Hughie O’Donoghue

Hughie O’Donoghue was born in Manchester, England in 1953 and now lives and works in London and Erris, Co Mayo, Ireland.

O’Donoghue uses figuration and abstraction to explore themes of human identity, memory, and experience; and draws on history, mythology, and personal records to create works that resonate with emotional intensity.

He completed an MA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths in 1982 and was Artist in Residence at the National Gallery, London from 1984-85. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from University College Cork, Ireland in 2005; and was elected to the Royal Academy in 2009 and Aosdána in 2013.

Major solo museum exhibitions include Haus der Kunst, Munich; Imperial War Museum, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Leeds City Art Gallery; DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague; The Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris; and The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.

His work is in public collections throughout the world including The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; The Irish Museum of Modern Art, and The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin; Ulster Museum, Belfast; British Museum, London; Dallas Museum of Art, Michigan Museum of Art, and Yale Center for British Art, USA.