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Gerard Dillon (1916 - 1971)
Moon Pool
Oil on canvas, 40 x 50.5cm (15¾ x 19¾”)
Signed
Provenance: Dr. M. Dempsey
Exhibited: “Gerard Dillon Paintings” ExhibitedThe Dawson Gallery, June-July 1968, Cat. No. 23
This painting belongs to a series of works, which relate to the memory of Joe Dillon, the artist’s brother. Other works
include,
“Joe’s Bog”, “The Long Road”, “Reflections,”
and
“Man and Dog
“. Older by seven years, Joe Dillon was an aspiring
tenor singer who shared his brother’s interest in music, the arts and drama.
Executed in the 1968, Dillon introduced complex symbolism into these Pierrot images to evoke messages that are am-
biguous and are open to interpretation. Anxiety over his mortality following a heart attack in 1967 and following the
death of his three brothers may have caused the artist’s preoccupation with Carl Jung’s dream theory to find answers to
these traumatic events and may have offered a solution to Dillon’s anxiety in his waking life.
Influenced by Picasso, Dillon’s use of colour reveal the artist’s psychological state. Never wishing to speak about the
meaning of his work, the impersonal masked figure represents himself and tones of red, blue and black act as his lan-
guage to evoke a strong response from the viewer.
An admirer of Chagall, exaggerated moon faces and pools of water frequently appear in the artist’s work from the early
1940’s, “
Moon Worshippers
”, romantic West of Ireland images in the 1950’s, “
Connemara Lovers”
to this final phase of
works where the moon face includes a sad expression.
Unsuccessful in the musical world, Joe Dillon was forced to seek out alternative work in London to supplement his
income. In the early 1960’s, on a cold and wet November night, Joe Dillon went out in search for his missing dog
“Heine”. Living alone the Dachshund offered him physical, emotional and social canine companionship. Becoming
ill, Joe was admitted to Victoria Hospital in Belfast where he died of a heart attack on the 1st December 1962 with his
nephew Gerard by his side.
Describing these works in the 1960’s as “Poetic Fantasies,” Dillon draws our attention to a kneeling Pierrot holding a
smiling moon in a pool of blue water. A melancholic moon, somber sky, and dark stripes in a surreal landscape repre-
sent the artist’s fear of his mortality. By confronting his fate, his subconscious reveals the afterlife, a magically coloured
dog in a red landscape, symbolizing his brother Joe.
Karen Reihill
Currently researching Gerard Dillon & Friends.
€10,000 - 15,000