WILDE SUNFLOWERS PAINTING DRAW

* updated 9th February 2024

The 'Wilde Sunflowers' painting draw is now CLOSED. 

 

We're very pleased to announce that together we raised an astounding  €11,975. The total number of tickets sold was 3170 to 312 people. We appreciate every single contributor who supported this fundraiser. Thank you for your generous donations!

 

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The winner is Dayle Armstrong. Congratulations!

You can watch painting draw & winner announcement recording here.

 

 

'With freedom, flowers, books, and the moon, who could not be perfectly happy ?' 

- Oscar Wilde

 

 

MERLIN HOLLAND, who is Wilde’s only grandchild, was in Dublin this week to view a piece of art which has been donated by artist Gerard Byrne to help preserve the former home of his grandfather Oscar Wilde. 

 

Gerard Byrne, artist-in-residence at Number One Merrion Square North in Dublin, shows his painting, Wilde Sunflowers to Oscar Wilde’s grandson Merlin Holland, phot Marc O’Sullivan

 

The house at Number One Merrion Square North Dublin, where the Wildes lived for 24 years, was constructed in 1760 so it requires constant maintenance. Number One makes a strong architectural and aesthetic contribution to the early character of Merrion Square. Laid out as part of the Fitzwilliam Estate, Merrion Square is one of the best-preserved Georgian streetscapes in Ireland. Outside 1 Merrion Square was where James Joyce (1882 - 1941) and Nora Barnacle (1884 - 1951) met for their first date – a moment was later immortalised in Joyce's Ulysses (1922). Today this beautiful georgian building houses American College Dublin. The university offers a range of courses including performing arts and creative writing.

One part of the house that needs rejuvenation is the Annex – the extension that Oscar’s father, the eye and ear surgeon Sir William Wilde, added in 1861, six years after the family moved in when their son, Oscar, was an infant. The annex comprises of Sir William’s former consultation room, a gallery and a balconied first floor orangery. Due to the age of the building it requires constant repairs and restoration.

 

Wilde Sunflowers painting in the Orangery at the Oscar Wilde House Annex - to be restored, phot Marc O’Sullivan

 

Gerard painted Wilde Sunflowers from located on the first floor The Speranza Room overlooking Merrion Square Park and the National Gallery of Ireland, during Oscariana: A Wilde Dublin Festival – Wilde’s annual birthday weekend celebrations which were held last month. Oscar and sunflowers are a valid conjunction because perhaps no writer in history has been associated with a single flower as closely as Oscar Wilde was associated with the sunflower in 1882, when he visited the flower’s native America for the entire year.

 

Gerard Byrne painting Wilde Sunflowers in The Speranza Room, Oscar Wilde House Dublin, during Oscariana: A Wilde Dublin Festival, October 2023, phot Marc O’Sullivan

 

 

 

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ART RAFFLE 1ST PRIZE

 

 

Wilde Sunflowers
original painting by artist Gerard Byrne, signed & framed

oil & acrylic border on canvas
180 x 100 cm (canvas size)
185 x 105 cm (framed)
framed with bespoke tray frame
RRP €15,000

 

 

 

 

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PAINTING RAFFLE KEY DATES

November 9, 2023