Exhibitions

William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy

Dublin, Ireland

A descent into the visionary underworld of William Blake, where revolutionary spirit meets the ghosts of Romantic imagination.

William Blake, The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy

Image credit

William Blake, The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy (formerly called ‘Hecate’), c. 1795. Tate, Presented by W. Graham Robertson 1939. Photo: Tate. © National Gallery of Ireland

Meet the artist

Also featuring: James Barry, John Hamilton Mortimer, Thomas Rowlandson

ArtLovers Tip

Look for the work titled "The Night of Enitharmon's Joy." Historically known as "Hecate," it captures Blake's unique ability to blend classical mythology with his own invented, haunting cosmology.

Exhibition Highlights - What you'll see

William Blake lived at the edge of the seen world, translating his feverish visions of heaven and hell into a visual language that felt entirely new. This exhibition, a major collaboration with Tate, places Blake’s mystical engravings and watercolors alongside his peers, showing how artists like Turner and Fuseli also wrestled with the shadows of a changing era. It is a portrait of a mind that refused to be contained by the logic of the Enlightenment.

You're watching a labyrinth of over 100 works spread across the gallery’s hushed interior rooms. The lighting is low to protect the delicate papers, creating an intimate, almost conspiratorial atmosphere. You move between small, intense plates of fantastical creatures and larger, swirling compositions where human forms stretch and contort against cosmic backgrounds, revealing the raw emotional pulse of the Romantic age.

Worth the trip

  • A Rare Partnership: The National Gallery of Ireland and Tate bring together over 100 works, many of which are too delicate to travel frequently.
  • Contextual Mastery: Seeing Blake alongside Turner and Fuseli highlights the shared obsession with the sublime and the supernatural in late-eighteenth-century art.
  • The Full Spectrum: The exhibition covers everything from Blake’s intricate poetry illustrations to his most famous portrayals of ancient myths and underworld visions.

How to experience it

Allow the heavy, quiet energy of Rooms 6 through 10 to sink in before rushing to the larger masterpieces. Blake’s work demands a slow, close reading of the fine lines and handwritten text. After stepping out, walk through Merrion Square; the park’s formal geometry provides a grounding contrast to the chaotic, swirling underworlds you’ve just left behind.

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