Crawford Art Gallery Cork

Crawford Art Gallery is a National Cultural Institution, dedicated to the visual arts, both historic and contemporary. The collection comprises over 3,000 works, ranging from eighteenth-century Irish and European painting and sculpture, through to contemporary video installations. At the heart of the collection is a collection of Greek and Roman sculpture casts, brought to Cork in 1818 from the Vatican Museum in Rome.

Our charitable purpose and objectives are:

to advance education by developing and promoting the practice of art, sculpture and design and in the fine arts and applied arts generally and to promote the Crawford Art Gallery Cork as an educational centre for the arts and as a major cultural and artistic centre.

to advance education by providing facilities for cultural and artistic exhibitions, performances, displays, demonstrations, conferences, lectures, tours, visits, functions and related activities and to engage in the promotion of such cultural and artistic activities.

Through its exhibitions and Learn and Explore programmes, Crawford Art Gallery is committed to fostering recognition, critical assessment, and an acknowledgement of historical and contemporary Irish and international art practice. Located in the heart of Cork city, the gallery is a critical part of Ireland's cultural and tourism infrastructure, welcoming over 250,000 visitors a year. Admission to the Gallery is free.

Originally built in 1724 as the city’s custom house, the Gallery is home to the famous Canova Casts, gifted to the city of Cork two centuries ago. Well-known and loved works by 20th century Irish artists such as Seán Keating, Harry Clarke, Norah McGuinness, Mainie Jellett and Jack B. Yeats feature in the gallery’s historic collection, while the modern collection features work by contemporary artists such as Eilis O’Connell, Gerard Byrne, Dorothy Cross, Maud Cotter and Hughie O’Donoghue