ADAM'S IMPORTANT IRISH ART 28th May 2025

22 12 MARTIN GALE RHA (B. 1949) Coming Storm (2003) Oil on canvas 122 x 122cm (48 x 48”) Signed; also signed and dated 2003 verso Provenance: With Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Private Collection; Sale, Whytes Dublin, 26/4/2005, lot 88; Private Collection, Dublin Exhibited: Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy, Martin Gale: Paintings , 27/9 – 24/10/2004 touring to Belfast, Ulster Museum, 2/12/2004 – 27/3/2005 Literature: Dennis O’Driscoll, ‘ View to Vision ’, in Martin Gale: Paintings , RHA, Dublin 2004, p.45, illus p.87 € 8,000 - 12,000 In Coming Storm , dark clouds hang overhead, ready to burst. Their gloomy shadows spread over the trees and tangled summer grass below, threatening to wipe out everything bright and cheerful in the scene. At the centre of the field stands a striped marquee tent, its festive colours sharply contrasting with the approaching storm. It looks as out of place as someone dressed for summer just moments before a heavy rain shower. Any second now, the rain will start hammering on the tent’s roof. What was once set up with high hopes—perhaps as a tea tent for a country show—now clings to the ground, its fabric flapping, its ropes pulled tight, its brightness dulled. The tent feels both touching and vulnerable. It speaks to something deeper: how quickly our dreams can come under threat, how fragile our hopes can be. But despite the tension in Coming Storm there’s also a sense of quiet strength. Like any crisis, this too will pass. The sky will clear, and soon, the tent will be pitched again, ready for another day.