Let us guide you through Ireland’s national art collection on one of our celebrated Dublin Decoded Private Art Tours. Your guide is Arran Henderson, a writer and art historian whose knowledge of the capital’s history and culture has seen him featured in the Wall Street Journal and The Irish Times.
National Gallery of Ireland: Highlights and Masterpieces
Savour highlights of the National Gallery including 18th and 19th-century paintings from the British and Irish collections, and early 20th-century work by Jack B Yeats. Upstairs we’ll look at international works by masters like Goya, Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer and Caravaggio. We also look briefly at the recent, superb refurbishment of the historic sections of the National Gallery itself. This tour takes 1 hour 30 mins to 2 hours approximately. Press the green “Book Now” button at any time to book your own private tour.
National Gallery of Ireland: How to Read a Painting
A superb and celebrated private tour, focused on the wonderful theme of classical and biblical symbolism in old master paintings. Learn how to read and “decode” paintings in the way an art historian does, including masterpieces by Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Mantegna and Caravaggio. This convivial, accessible, yet high-value art tour has been the subject of scores of rave reviews on TripAdvisor and elsewhere. For the general, yet intellectually curious visitor, it helps answer important questions concerning how to interpret and understand old master paintings. As well as religious saints and symbols, we’ll also glance at some of the best-known tropes of classical mythology, to see how artists use symbols to help us identify mythological characters and themes. Press the green “Book Now” button at any time to book your own private tour.
Our private art tours are available during opening hours of the National Gallery of Ireland. The current opening hours are:
Monday: 11am – 5.30pm
Tuesday to Saturday: 9.45am – 5.30pm
Sunday: 11.30am – 5.30pm
As a result of the Covid pandemic, the National Gallery has limited its opening hours and is not currently open on Thursday evenings (as it was in the past). Once it re-opens on Thursday evenings, Dublin Decoded will also offer private evening art tours (i.e. Thursday evenings only, 6-8pm). This can often be a particularly beautiful time to visit the galleries, with optimum viewing conditions to enjoy the old master works in calm and peace – at times with almost exclusive access to many of the galleries.
