Top of the Hill by Grace Henry, Limerick Gallery of Art: Famous Paintings and their Hidden Histories – Spring 2026

Artist and art teacher Áine Andrews returns with another series of lectures on Famous Paintings and their Hidden Histories. For the third installment of this six part lecture series, Áine will focus on Top of the Hill by Grace Henry, recounting its history, as well as that of the artist and her story.

Top of the Hill by Grace Henry, Limerick Gallery of Art

Grace Mitchell met Paul Henry in Paris in 1900 when they were both students at Academie Julian. They married in London shortly afterwards and lived in Surrey for several years. From there moved to Achill in 1910. Paul was immediately captivated by it but while Grace responded sympathetically to the people who lived and worked here, the romanticised landscapes of windswept skies and thatched cottages were not for her. Instead her painting shows an a more contemporary awareness of life in this very remote part of Ireland, by depicting everyday social scenes.

In Top of the Hill, the women appear unburdened for a few moments, as work is suspended to enjoy this chance meeting to chat or gossip in peace.

The bright reds and yellows of the beautiful Achill shawl, use of broad brushstrokes, heavy outlines and impasto paint as well as modern design techniques shows a more radical approach to painting than that of her famous husband.

Grace plays with perspective and designs it so that the three figures occupy the upper part of the composition. This means the viewer is naturally encouraged to look upward and follow the incline of the slope towards the gathering at the top of the top the hill. The work also shows the influence of the Japanese prints she encountered in Paris, in its simplified, flattened and outlined forms.

Grace and Paul Henry regularly exhibited together and yet over the years she was overshadowed and even now her more avant garde work is often overlooked.