Sealy’s work is deeply rooted in place, with a particular focus on North Dublin – from the northern Liffey docks to the coastal village of Howth. Her paintings move between the built and natural environment, capturing the distinctive character of familiar places and the traces of lives lived within them. Donegal also features prominently, reflecting the artist’s longstanding connection to the county, where she spent childhood holidays in a family cottage. Smaller works made during travels abroad extend this exploration of place beyond Ireland.
Portraits of friends and family, alongside interiors animated by people passing through, form a recurring thread throughout the exhibition. Across these works, Sealy is attentive to the particulars of time and place: to people coming and going, moments observed and remembered, and the quiet passage of lives lived and lost.
Artist Bio
Una Sealy is a leading Irish artist and recipient of numerous awards. Her work focuses on contemporary domestic life, portraits and landscapes, and how people are affected by their environment and vice versa. Sealy is an elected full Member of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts. She has held eleven solo exhibitions to date, and her work has been selected for many curated shows in Ireland and abroad. She has recently been commissioned to paint major portraits for public collections in Waterford County Council, Dublin City University and National University of Ireland, Galway.
Sealy was the winner of the Adam’s Award for the Artist with the most potential for Future Appreciation at the RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin in 2015, and she was one of 12 finalists shortlisted for the Hennessy Portrait Award at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2014. She was awarded the Irish Arts Review prize for Outstanding Portraiture in 2011. In 2019 she was one of ten artists selected to exhibit in China to celebrate 40 years of Ireland/China diplomatic relations. She is the inaugural Professor of Art at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Sealy is a tutor in painting, drawing and anatomy at the RHA School, and was a judge on both series of RTE’s, Painting the Nation, 2016/2017. She is a former member of the Board of Governors of the National Gallery of Ireland.
Images: 01. Una Sealy, Dancer, 2021, Oil on canvas, 40 x 60 cm, Image courtesy of the artist.
02. Una Sealy, Brave New World, 2025, Oil on canvas, 50 x 70 cm, Image courtesy of the artist.
03. Una Sealy, The Way Back, 2026, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150cm, Image courtesy of the artist.
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