ADAM'S IMPORTANT IRISH ART 25 MARCH 2026

48 31 TERENCE P. FLANAGAN RHA (1929-2011) Spring, Lisadell Woods (1990) Oil on canvas, 91 x 122cm (35¾ x 48”) Signed and dated (19)’90 Exhibited: Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy, Annual Exhibition 1990 € 6,000 - 8,000 This atmospheric woodland scene, titled Spring, Lisadell Woods , is a characteristic example of the mature work of T. P. Flanagan. Painted in 1990, it reflects the artist’s lifelong engagement with the Irish landscape, distilled into mood, structure and subtle tonal harmony. The title places the scene at Lisadell, Co. Sligo, long associated with the cultural life of the west of Ireland and immortalised in poetry by W. B. Yeats. Flanagan, however, avoids overt literary reference. Instead, he offers a contemplative interior of slender birch trunks rising through a veil of blue-green atmosphere. The forest floor is animated with brisk, calligraphic strokes of violet and indigo, suggesting bracken and undergrowth with an economy that stops short of description. Light filters through the vertical lattice of trees, dissolving solid form into a shimmering interplay of tone. Flanagan’s handling here is both assured and expres- sive. Paint is scumbled and layered, allowing passag- es of translucency to emerge, while the restrained palette of cool greens, soft whites and shifting blues enhances the hush of the woodland setting. Structure and spontaneity are held in careful bal- ance: the upright trunks provide compositional order against which the freer brushwork of foliage vibrates. Born in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Flanagan studied at Belfast College of Art and later at the Royal Col- lege of Art, London. Elected a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1977, he exhibited consistently at the RHA and with leading galleries in Belfast and Dublin. A central figure in post-war Northern Irish painting, he remained steadfastly committed to land- scape, favouring introspection over spectacle and atmosphere over anecdote. Woodland subjects such as this occupied him throughout his career, offering a vehicle for increas- ingly painterly exploration. In Spring, Lisadell Woods , the familiar terrain of the west is transformed into a lyrical meditation on light and stillness, a finely resolved and evocative work from the artist’s mature period.