Seán McSweeney


Seán McSweeney was an Irish painter and member of the arts organisation Aosdána.

Early life

McSweeney was born in Dublin in 1935. He worked for a time as a clerk, and became interested in art due to his father, also an artist, and because of visits to the Hugh Lane Gallery.

Career

McSweeney was self-taught as a painter, living in County Wicklow for a time before moving to his mother's home in the 1980s. He was inspired by painters like Patrick Collins and Jack B. Yeats.
He first exhibitied his work at the Cavendish Gallery, Dublin in the late 1950s; he was featured in the first Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1962. His first solo show was at the Dawson Gallery in 1965. He had a retrospective show at The Model, Sligo in 2007.
According to the Kenny Gallery, "his bog pools and Sligo landscapes are iconic in Irish painting. Vibrant primaries mingle with dense blacks to suggest an almost primal depth."
According to the Taylor Galleries, McSweeney was

Personal life

McSweeney married Sheila Murphy in 1967; they had five children. He died in 2018.