Night – William Orpen | Irish Art Print

Night – William Orpen

Most of Orpen's career was spent in other people's faces. Night is something different.

A single figure stands at a sash window, the curtains drawn back, the world outside reduced to deep cobalt dark. The interior is spare — geometric, almost austere. There is no narrative here, no sitter to flatter, no commission to fulfil. Just a painter working out what silence looks like.

Orpen made very few pure interior works. This is one of them, and it stands apart from everything else in his output — closer in feeling to Hammershoi than to the society portraits that made his name. It was painted at a time when Orpen was moving between London and Dublin, between the demands of a successful career and something more private. Night feels like that private thing.

Sir William Orpen (1878-1931), born in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, trained at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and the Slade School in London, becoming one of the most successful portrait painters of his generation. His work hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland.

Sizes & Format

• 60 × 80 cm / 24 × 32″
• 45 × 60 cm / 18 × 24″
• 30 × 40 cm / 12 × 16″
• Available unframed

Print Details

Archival matte paper, 250gsm (110lb), acid-free and FSC-certified — off-white, uncoated. Unframed prints up to A4 ship flat; larger sizes ship rolled in a protective tube.

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