Daniel O'Neill Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Daniel O'Neill Art Value Price Guide

Mar. 26, 2025
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Promised Land Oil on board, 22 x 29.5cm (8½ x 11½'') Signed lower left, inscribed indistinctly verso
Est: €3,000 - €5,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Promised Land Oil on board, 22 x 29.5cm (8½ x 11½'') Signed lower left, inscribed indistinctly verso
Adam's
Mar. 25, 2025
Daniel O'Neill, Irish 1920-1974 - Flotsam, Landscape Donegal; oil on board, titled on the rever
Est: £4,000 - £6,000
Daniel O'Neill, Irish 1920-1974 - Flotsam, Landscape Donegal; oil on board, titled on the reverse 'Landscape Donegal', 40.3 x 60.7 cm (ARR) Provenance: Sotheby’s, London, 20th Century British and Irish Art, 14th September 2005, lot 185; private collection, purchased from the above Note: Campbell was from a circle of Post-War Irish artists that worked in Conlig in the 1950s that included Gerald Dillon and George F. Campbell. The present work reflects the neo-romantic style that was prevalent in Britain and Ireland in the period, seen here in the heavy atmosphere of the landscape, reminiscent of the early work of John Minton and John Craxton. The colour palette of muddied browns, greens and blues suggest an eerie calm that settles on the landscape. Horizontal brush strokes emphasise the still water and sky, in a direct opposition to the scattered flotsam littered across the foreground which alludes to an unseen danger. The mounds of debris recall scenes from the trenches and ravaged fields of World War Two, deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness of the post-war era. O’Neill became a full-time painter in 1945, having previously worked as an electrician on Belfast shipyard, and visited Paris in 1949. Here he was influenced by Maurice Vlaminck, Georges Roualt and Maurice Utrillo. In the following decade he moved to Conlig, Country Down, where a small group of artists had formed. These included George Campbell and Gerard Dillon. Some of his works were exhibited at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2005 as part of an exhibit on Northern Irish Artists. His work is held in Irish public collections including Ulster Museum and Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, as well as the Laing Gallery and Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in the UK. His work was shown at the influential Victor Waddington Gallery in Dublin in 1946 and Arthur Tooth & Sons, London in 1952.
Roseberys
Mar. 25, 2025
Daniel O'Neill, Irish 1920-1974 - Down and Outs; oil on board, signed upper left 'D O'Neill', 6
Est: £2,500 - £3,000
Daniel O'Neill, Irish 1920-1974 - Down and Outs; oil on board, signed upper left 'D O'Neill', 65.5 x 86.8 cm (ARR) Provenance: Christie's London, The Irish Art Sale, 10th May 2007, lot 126 (unsold); private collection, UK Note: Bright, vivid colours identify this work as one created later in his career. The distorted faces of figures, whose eyes are reduced to sunken hollows, is an exaggeration of the darkened eyes in his portrait ‘Jeanie’ (1954). In the middle ground a figure stands with his arms outstretched, evoking powerful biblical images of the crucifixion. In the foreground, a figure adorned with a deep blue neckline of her dress is subtly suggested to be the Virgin Mary as such. O’Neill became a full-time painter in 1945, having previously worked as an electrician on Belfast shipyard, and visited Paris in 1949. Here he was influenced by Maurice Vlaminck, Georges Roualt and Maurice Utrillo. In the following decade he moved to Conlig, Country Down, where a small group of artists had formed. These included George Campbell and Gerard Dillon. Some of his works were exhibited at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2005 as part of an exhibit on Northern Irish Artists.
Roseberys
Mar. 03, 2025
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) BATHERS
Est: €15,000 - €20,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) BATHERS oil on board signed lower right; titled on partial, original Waddington gallery label on reverse h:14 w:18 in. Provenance: Adams, 28 March 2007, lot 17; Private collection Figures on a beach (single or in small groups) is something of a sub-theme in the work of Dan O'Neill. We tend to associate the theme of 'bathers' (Les Grandes Baigneuses) with early modernists working in the South of France at the beginning of the 20th century - Renoir, Gauguin, Matisse and Picasso. These paintings often register a hedonistic playfulness - a joie de vivre. We know O'Neill did spend several months in France c.1948/9 and would have seen a range of such paintings in the public galleries there. However, with O'Neill, living and working in a Northern temperate climate, his treatment of figures on a beach, as with 'Bathers' in this auction, induces more of a melancholic atmosphere and an uneasiness. There are two figures in the foreground of the painting - one a reclining sensuous nude; the other a seated, somewhat demure and clothed upright figure. In the work of O'Neill, we often find the imaginative, at times haunting, interaction between figure and environment, mood and circumstance. In this regard, it may be noted with O'Neill that there is something of the legacy of the romantic idea of the affinity between the soul of mankind and nature. The raised section of the beach is shaped to offer some privacy to the women. The clothed figure averts her eyes away from the gaze of the artist/viewer, as if sensitive to and perhaps uneasy with the nudity of her companion or of a rift in a relationship. The painting's ambiguity is part of its intriguing charm. O'Neill often relied on rich colours and impasto to impart a visionary quality in his work. The ecstatic sky, which is uniformly scumbled and textured in light blues and whites, adds a charge to the tension of the foreground scenography. The sea is treated as a marine blue and forms a strong horizon line, setting a 'golden mean' ratio with the remaining two thirds of the canvas which overall registers a very aesthetically satisfying structural composition. The vertical and horizontal disposition of the figures, as well as their overlapping placement, establishes the compositional and psychological focus of the painting. The inscape of the foreground section of the beach, it's 'sandiness', is beautifully conceived and rendered. In 1945 he was taken on and supported career-wise by the Victor Waddington gallery in Dublin. Indeed the 1940s was an important period for the artist both critically and in work output. It may be noted that title 'Bathers' is written on a fragment of a Waddington label on the reverse of this canvas. Waddington also exhibited O'Neill's work in Boston and Canada. There is a work, also called Bathers, in a private collection in Montreal. O'Neill is represented in private collections in Ireland, England, France, Holland, Sweden, USA, Canada and Israel. His work is also included in the following public collections; Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin, The Arts Council of Ireland, The Municipal Gallery, Cork, The National Gallery, Melbourne and The Herbert Gallery, Coventry. Prof. Liam Kelly February 2025
Whyte's
Dec. 04, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Doves and a Girl Oil on board, 51 x 40.5cm (20 x 15¾'') Signed Exhibited: Dublin, Victor Waddington Galleries, 'Daniel O'Neill', 1949,(September), Cat. No. 1; Dndalk, Co. Louth, The Dundalk Art GAlleries, Opening E
Est: €40,000 - €60,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Doves and a Girl Oil on board, 51 x 40.5cm (20 x 15¾'') Signed Exhibited: Dublin, Victor Waddington Galleries, 'Daniel O'Neill', 1949,(September), Cat. No. 1; Dndalk, Co. Louth, The Dundalk Art GAlleries, Opening Exhibition of Works by Irish Artists, (May) 1953, no. 32; Dublin, The Oriel Gallery, 100 Years of Irish Art, 1993; Dublin, Farmleigh Gallery, 'Daniel O'Neill: Romanticism and Friendships', (March-June) 2022; Belfast, Cultúrlann Gallery, 'Daniel O'Neill: Coming Home', 6 June 2022 - 15 August 2022, no. 2 Literature: Oliver Nulty, 100 Years of Irish Art: Oriel Gallery Silver Jubilee, 1968-1993, p. 96; Karen Reihill, 'Daniel O'Neill: Romanticism + Friendships' Frederick Gallery Bookshop, 2020,. Illustrated front cover and page 35. To mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Daniel O’Neill in 2020, an exhibition and monograph dedicated to him, Daniel O’Neill: Romanticism and Friendships was planned to take place in OPW’s Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin. In 2015 this writer was approached by Daniel O’Neill’s daughter, Patricia Forster (1943- 2017) who asked if I would undertake to research her father as no one had yet published a monograph on him. Early on in my research, I chose this painting, Doves and a Girl for the front cover of the book as it represented the romantic qualities of his paintings, his technical ability as a painter and showed his muse, and wife Eileen, who after their first meeting featured in many of his works until his untimely death in 1974. Born into a working class Catholic family, Daniel O’Neill’s painting career coincided with the Second World War and as a result, there was little hope of him being able to travel to see the European Masters. The cultural atmosphere in Northern Ireland offered little encouragement to the aspiring young painter or his friends, George Campbell and Gerard Dillon. With barely a handful of outlets to exhibit their paintings, they turned to the Belfast Reference Library to learn about art and usedwhatever materials they could source locally to achieve their aim of being full time painters. They shared information and materials which consisted of tins of housepaint, scraps of cardboard, off-cuts of plywood, and hardback covers from large books to paint subjects. But after the Belfast Blitz there was little appetite to buy art in Northern Ireland. In 1945 O’Neill’s professional painting career began when he was taken up by Dublin dealer, Victor Waddington who paid him a regular stipend so he could give up his job as an electrician and paint full time. For the first time in his life, O’Neill’s dream of traveling to Europe to see the painters he had admired for years in reproductions in art books looked possible. His subjects during this period are largely autobiographical or express his own feelings about life and those around him. Women typically appear wearing clothes from another time or place, a device employed to focus the viewer’s attention on the prevailing mood or atmosphere. O’Neill met his future wife, Eileen Lyle, the daughter of a Protestant damask weaver in 1942 and after their marriage, they chose to live in Conlig, a Protestant village between Bangor and Newtownards in County Down, where O’Neill hoped the small local community would accept them knowing Eileen was a Protestant. In 1948 O’Neill’s planned three week sketching trip to Paris was extended to six months leaving Eileen alone to care for their child. But in the process of marrying O’Neill, Eileen had taken instruction in Catholicism and had to raise her child as a Catholic. Neither O’Neill or Eileen cared for religion but O’Neill’s mother was a devout Catholic and visits from a priest to their Conlig home did not go unnoticed. Patricia Forster said her father adored her mother but revealed her father’s prolonged absences from home and illness caused cracks in the marriage after he returned from Paris. O’Neill suffered from depression which caused him to turn to the numbing effects of alcohol. Patricia said in the context of the cultural differences in Belfast and the lack of understanding surrounding her father’s illness, there were long lasting consequences for the family. Exhibited in O’Neill’s 1949 exhibition, Doves and a Girl was painted not long after O’Neill’s return from Paris. This work belongs to a number of dignified portraits of Eileen which are emotionally charged reflecting the prevailing atmosphere in her life. Eileen’s sombre expression and the appearance of doves may symbolise O’Neill’s yearning for peace in the midst of the turmoil in their marriage or may point to Eileen’s heroic role as a mother protecting their child during O’Neill’s absence from home. In other iconic works from this period, The First Born and Birth in the Ulster Museum collection, the theme centres on Eileen and the powerful imagery of maternity. Karen Reihill, November, 2024
Adam's
Dec. 02, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) LANDSCAPE, COUNTY DOWN
Est: €5,000 - €7,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) LANDSCAPE, COUNTY DOWN oil on board signed lower right; titled on reverse h:12 w:16 in.
Whyte's
Nov. 27, 2024
Daniel O'Neill, Down and Outs
Est: £4,000 - £6,000
Daniel O'Neill, Irish 1920-1974 - Down and Outs; oil on board, signed upper left 'D O'Neill', 65.5 x 86.8 cm (ARR) Provenance: Christie's London, The Irish Art Sale, 10th May 2007, lot 126 (unsold); private collection, UK Note: Bright, vivid colours identify this work as one created later in his career. The distorted faces of figures, whose eyes are reduced to sunken hollows, is an exaggeration of the darkened eyes in his portrait ‘Jeanie’ (1954). In the middle ground a figure stands with his arms outstretched, evoking powerful biblical images of the crucifixion. In the foreground, a figure adorned with a deep blue neckline of her dress is subtly suggested to be the Virgin Mary as such. O’Neill became a full-time painter in 1945, having previously worked as an electrician on Belfast shipyard, and visited Paris in 1949. Here he was influenced by Maurice Vlaminck, Georges Roualt and Maurice Utrillo. In the following decade he moved to Conlig, Country Down, where a small group of artists had formed. These included George Campbell and Gerard Dillon. Some of his works were exhibited at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2005 as part of an exhibit on Northern Irish Artists.
Roseberys
Nov. 27, 2024
Daniel O'Neill, Flotsam, Landscape Donegal
Est: £6,000 - £8,000
Daniel O'Neill, Irish 1920-1974 - Flotsam, Landscape Donegal; oil on board, titled on the reverse 'Landscape Donegal', 40.3 x 60.7 cm (ARR) Provenance: Sotheby’s, London, 20th Century British and Irish Art, 14th September 2005, lot 185; private collection, purchased from the above Note: Campbell was from a circle of Post-War Irish artists that worked in Conlig in the 1950s that included Gerald Dillon and George F. Campbell. The present work reflects the neo-romantic style that was prevalent in Britain and Ireland in the period, seen here in the heavy atmosphere of the landscape, reminiscent of the early work of John Minton and John Craxton. The colour palette of muddied browns, greens and blues suggest an eerie calm that settles on the landscape. Horizontal brush strokes emphasise the still water and sky, in a direct opposition to the scattered flotsam littered across the foreground which alludes to an unseen danger. The mounds of debris recall scenes from the trenches and ravaged fields of World War Two, deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness of the post-war era. O’Neill became a full-time painter in 1945, having previously worked as an electrician on Belfast shipyard, and visited Paris in 1949. Here he was influenced by Maurice Vlaminck, Georges Roualt and Maurice Utrillo. In the following decade he moved to Conlig, Country Down, where a small group of artists had formed. These included George Campbell and Gerard Dillon. Some of his works were exhibited at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2005 as part of an exhibit on Northern Irish Artists. His work is held in Irish public collections including Ulster Museum and Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, as well as the Laing Gallery and Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in the UK. His work was shown at the influential Victor Waddington Gallery in Dublin in 1946 and Arthur Tooth & Sons, London in 1952.
Roseberys
Nov. 15, 2024
Scavengers (Belfast January 1957)
Est: £15,000 - £20,000
Daniel O'Neill 1920-1974 Scavengers (Belfast January 1957) signed D O'Neill (lower right); also signed Daniel O'Neill and titled on a label on the reverse oil on board unframed: 40.5 by 61cm.; 16 by 24in. framed: 56 by 76cm.; 22 by 30in. Executed in January 1957.
Sotheby's
Sep. 30, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) MOTHER AND CHILD
Est: €20,000 - €30,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) MOTHER AND CHILD oil on canvas titled on reverse h:24 w:20 in. Provenance: Collection of George and Maura McClelland; Adam's, 7 December 2005, lot 69; Private collection Literature: The Hunter Gatherer - The Collection of George and Maura McClelland, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2004 This painting depicts the artist's wife Eileen and their daughter Patricia. Anne Marie Keaveney in writing on this painting for IMMA's publication 'The Hunter Gatherer - The Collection of George and Maura McClelland', 2004, states: 'The lowkey colour in Mother and Child creates a mood of tenderness and quiet, almost religious in feeling, once again it is Eileen's face swathed in muted blue. The close harmonies and the diagonal composition combine to make a satisfying whole and the use of glazes and impasto effects create an interesting surface quality.' Dan O'Neill was a consummate figurative artist, often depicting female figures in a moody landscape setting or at times reclining sensuously on a beach. He painted many portraits of women in interior settings; at times with vistas glimpsed beyond an open window. These figures are often taken out of time and dressed in historical and exotic clothing in both interior and landscape settings. O'Neill often drew upon the Italian tradition for his stylistic treatment of his female figures but was also influenced by the impact that so called 'primitive art' had on the development of European modernism. Mother and Child is a recurrent theme in his work. Many artists have explored this theme from medieval and Renaissance times to the contemporary period - Bellini, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Picasso and Colin Middleton to David Hockney. The theme, emanating from the Virgin Mary and Child Jesus paintings, registers protection, compassion and tenderness, where the disposition of the figures are set up to interact emotionally in various ways. In Michelangelo's Pieta, for example, it is only through death that the mother could have her child Jesus on her lap again. It may be noted that the wearing of the mantilla veil in the Catholic tradition registers an affinity with the purity of the Virgin Mary and the devotion of motherhood. O'Neill painted many versions of domestic family life, at times of his wife Eileen and daughter Patricia e.g. The Nursery and Bath Time. In this painting Mother and Child the mother, Madonna-like, is seated in a somewhat ornate chair, dressed as if for a wedding with a decorative veil. Indeed, the female child appears like a miniature version of the mother and seeks protection with an outstretched arm; the mother is depicted as demure, pensive but responsive. Her fixed facial expression is set by her heavy, drooped eye lids. In the original religious Virgin and Child paintings there was often a sense of premonition registered regarding the fate of the Child Jesus. In O'Neill's painting a faint sense of foreboding prevails. Such an emotional disposition is further charged by the curved lines of the restless structure of the inner composition. As is often the case with the artist, lighting plays both a pictorial and spiritual role. As in other works, there is something of a debt to Picasso in the simple modelling of the face and oval shaping of the mother's eyes. The figures are rendered in textured tones of blue and green set against the light orange, green folds of a drape in the background. The painting is reminiscent of the bride in The Marriage (1947) by O'Neill. Mother and Child was exhibited at the Victor Waddington Gallery, Dublin in 1946 - the 1940s being something of a decas mirabilis for the artist, in both critical endorsement and output, culminating in 1952 in a very successful exhibition at the CEMA Gallery, Belfast. Prof. Liam Kelly, August 2024
Whyte's
Sep. 30, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) BATHER
Est: €15,000 - €20,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) BATHER oil on board signed lower left h:14 w:18 in. Provenance: Sotheby's, 16 May 2002, lot 260; Private collection
Whyte's
Sep. 30, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) PORTRAIT OF THE WRITER LAURENCE JAMES LUDOVICI, 1948
Est: €8,000 - €12,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) PORTRAIT OF THE WRITER LAURENCE JAMES LUDOVICI, 1948 oil on board signed upper left; dated lower left h:23 w:20 in. Provenance: Adam’s, 11 December 1996, lot 63; Private collection; with Eastwood Gallery, Antrim, 1999; Private collection Whyte's, 23 Feb 2015, lot 29; Private collection; Adam's, 23 March 2016, lot 84; Private collection Laurence James Ludovici (1910-1996) was a writer best known for his accounts of scientific and medical achievements including The History of Anaesthesia and Fleming, Discovery of Penicillin. Daniel O’Neill began exhibiting in Dublin from the early 1940s. He held a joint exhibition with fellow Belfast artist Gerard Dillon in 1943 at the Contemporary Painter Gallery and later with Victor Waddington in 1946. The positive response and sales of his work garnered him a contract with Waddington and allowed him to paint full time. Collaborative shows with George Campbell, Neville Johnson and Gerard Dillon followed. The present example dates to this early phase in the artist’s career. The year after this work was painted O’Neill travelled to Paris and his subject and style developed further. It is thought that this portrait was painted at Bryansford, Co. Down.
Whyte's
Jun. 04, 2024
λ DANIEL O'NEILL (NORTHERN IRISH 1920-1974), SNOW ON TYRELLA
Est: £6,000 - £8,000
λ DANIEL O'NEILL (NORTHERN IRISH 1920-1974) SNOW ON TYRELLAOil on boardSigned (lower right)46 x 61cm (18 x 24 in.)Painted in 1953.Provenance:Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd., London
Dreweatts 1759 Fine Sales
May. 29, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974), PORTRAIT OF A GIRL
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974), Irish PORTRAIT OF A GIRL oil on hardboard signed lower right 21.9 x 18.3 in — 55.6 x 46.5 cm Estimate: $10,000—15,000
Waddington's
May. 29, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974), FUNFAIR
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974), Irish FUNFAIR oil on hardboard signed lower left; titled to nameplate 16.3 x 24.3 in — 41.5 x 61.7 cm Estimate: $10,000—15,000
Waddington's
May. 29, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920 - 1974) Landscape, Co. Down Oil on board, 30 x 40cm (11¾ x 15¾) Signed; inscribed verso
Est: €7,000 - €10,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920 - 1974) Landscape, Co. Down Oil on board, 30 x 40cm (11¾ x 15¾) Signed; inscribed verso
Adam's
Apr. 05, 2024
DANIEL O'NEILL R.H.A (1920-1974) La Vieille Maison
Est: €4,000 - €8,000
DANIEL O'NEILL R.H.A (1920-1974) La Vieille Maison Huile sur panneau d'isorel signé en bas à droite et contresigné au dos sur une étiquette Dimensions : 41,5 x 51 cm Provenance : - Christie's, Londres lot 149 vente du 27 septembre 1991 - Collection privée Monte-Carlo Accompagné de la facture d'achat et des document de transport Peintre romantique ou expressionniste d’origine irlandaise, Daniel O’Neill reçoit une éducation artistique auprès de Sidney Smith au Belfast College of Art même s'il reste largement autodidacte. Il initie sa carrière artistique en peignant penant son temps libre et il faut attendre la fin de la guerre pour qu’O’Neill puisse enfin vivre de sa peinture, après avoir obtenu un contrat d’exposition à la galerie de Victor Waddington à Dublin qui l’exposera durant une grande partie de sa carrière. En 1949, O’Neill se rend à Paris où il subit l’influence directe de George Rouault, Maurice de Vlaminck et Maurice Utrillo. Dès cette époque, il conçoit les éléments de sa peinture qui feront son succès : des iconographies pleines de sentiments, évoquant la mort ou l’amour, avec une technique expressionniste inspirée des peintres français. A la fin des années 50 et suite à la fermeture de la Waddington Gallery de Dublin, O’Neill déménage à Londres, où il reste jusqu’en 1971. Sa vie est extrêmement difficile et il ne connaît pas le succès d’auparavant. Cela se ressent fortement dans ses œuvres, de plus en plus introspectives et marquées par une désolation absolue. Aujourd’hui, les œuvres d’O’Neill font la fierté de l’Ulster Museum de Belfast et le peintre jouit d’une grande notoriété posthume à l’international.
Accademia Fine Art
Mar. 27, 2024
Daniel ONeill (1920 - 1974) Lot and his Daughters Oil on board, 53 x 70.5cm (20 x 24) Signed Provenance: Unidentified exhibition label, no.21 with title verso
Est: €10,000 - €15,000
Daniel ONeill (1920 - 1974) Lot and his Daughters Oil on board, 53 x 70.5cm (20 x 24) Signed Provenance: Unidentified exhibition label, no.21 with title verso
Adam's
Mar. 27, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920 - 1974) Solitude , Lough Neagh Oil on board, 25.4 x 35.56cm (10 x 14'') Signed Provenance: Collection of Robert Jackson, Belfast. Bequeathed to the present owner, c. 1990. This work is very similar in subject matt
Est: €10,000 - €15,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920 - 1974) Solitude , Lough Neagh Oil on board, 25.4 x 35.56cm (10 x 14'') Signed Provenance: Collection of Robert Jackson, Belfast. Bequeathed to the present owner, c. 1990. This work is very similar in subject matter and style to another painting by the artist titled Sunday and sold in these rooms in 2022, which also had a pair of female figures at the centre of the composition. These works are looser in their handling of the paint, and in this instance, he is using quick and broad sweeps of colour to indicate the dresses of the two standing figures. He has used an artist sponge to create texture for the leaves of the trees in the background, while other areas have very light touches of paint, with multiple layers of colour visible. Solitude is a vivid and arresting landscape scene which sees ONeill using a bright tonal palette, somewhat uncharacteristic for him as an artist. Two figures stand with their backs to us, unclear if they are stopping to admire the view across the water to the mountains in the distance. We are not sure if they have noticed the reclining figure to the left-hand side of composition. She is depicted in the position of a reclining classical nude, her head resting on one hand and the other holding what appears to be book. As has been noted with many of ONeills works there is a strangeness or enigma to them. He does not give us much in way of narrative content and the title of work, may reflect the solitary nature of the reading figure, but her relaxed pose feels also at odds in relation to the two other women within this empty landscape. Brian Fallon remarked of Daniel ONeill, he is an excellent Landscapist. But in the Yeatsian way - there is more imagination than topography and concluded that ONeills best works are charged with that mysterious and unquantifiable quality which gives Art its purpose. Niamh Corcoran, February 2024
Adam's
Mar. 27, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920 - 1974) The Little River Oil on board, 45 x 60cm (17¾ x 23½) Signed
Est: €7,000 - €10,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920 - 1974) The Little River Oil on board, 45 x 60cm (17¾ x 23½) Signed
Adam's
Mar. 11, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) JULIE
Est: €20,000 - €30,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) JULIE oil on canvas titled on reverse h:21 w:17 in. In portraiture, with notable exceptions, the probing of the sitter's personality or psychological disposition is a relatively recent approach ushered in by the Romantic movement in the 19th century and later explored by expressionist artists in the 20th century with the focus on the inner life of the individual. O'Neill, throughout his career, painted many portraits of women. Drawing on both Italianate and primitive traditions he often set his subjects within a domestic setting, at times in a classical three quarter pose, sometimes with a view beyond the interior. By contrast, on occasions, and for more expressive power, he drew upon the stylistic characteristics of mannerist art - elongated figure, confrontational pose, heightened, emotive, less naturalistic colours. O'Neill clearly was also aware of the influence of the art of other cultures, which was having such an influence in the development of modernism, in the work of Picasso, Gauguin and Modigliani which he would have seen in Paris and in London. 'Julie' is a fine example of this tendency in his portraiture. As with most portraits by O'Neill, whether depicting a bride, actress or model, he captures a brooding presence. Often his female studies are taken out of time, sometimes by the use of historical costume. With 'Julie' there is more of a confident, confrontational presence. The disposition of her elegant fore-square arms registering a proud strength of character. The background is spare and neutral - a light blue with underpainting breaking through. The figure is simply conceived and sculptural with little evidence of his trade mark impasto. Unlike many of his more decorative portraits the subject's clothes are plain and understated, rendered in light blue and white, in contrast to her dark skin - depicted by way of tones of brown and orange. Her earrings and necklace are the only concession to the decorative. Her brooding, assured face tilts away from the gaze of the artist and in turn the viewer; her left arm raised in what might be seen as a defensive gesture of self-assurance. 'Julie' then, in style and treatment, is markedly different from the usual range of O'Neill's portraits. Prof. Liam Kelly, February 2024
Whyte's
Mar. 11, 2024
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) SUNSHOWER
Est: €20,000 - €30,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) SUNSHOWER oil on panel signed lower right; titled on reverse h:14 w:21 in. Figures in a landscape is a recurring theme in the work of Dan O'Neill where, often, he registers a symbiotic, at times, unsettled and unsettling, relationship between figure and the natural environment. In 'Sunshower' a mother shelters her two children by her 'Madonna' blue cloak in the foreground of lush green/dark green vegetation. Her features are reminiscent of the peasant faces of the family at dinner in Van Gogh's 'Potato Eaters', a work essentially about the dignity of labour. O'Neill would most likely have seen works by Van Gogh during his sojourn in Paris (1948/9) and also at the Van Gogh exhibition in London's Tate Gallery in 1948. It may be observed, as well, that he painted a number of works as a homage to the Dutch artist, notably 'On reading' Dear Theo''. The landscape here recedes by way of a series of oblique sections of land with some denuded and declamatory trees. There is a glimpse of the gable end of a white washed rural cottage in the background while the painting culminates in the depiction of a warm grey moisture-laden sky. Light is the great protagonist at work in this complex and dramatic composition. It lights up the stern face of the mother and is, at its most luminous, as it washes in orange and yellow pigment across what would appear to be a cornfield, ready for harvest. The bare branched trees conspire within the scenography. O'Neill produced a number of paintings of Harvest time. In 'Harvester's Picnic', lot 40, Whyte’s, 27 September 2021, the moon lights up a stretch of the harvested cornfield. A standing female, in profile, stares out into the distant night. Like 'Sunshower' it teeters on the verge of the surreal, creating a magical, ominous atmospheric mood - a visionary dreamtime landscape. 'Sunshower' is a fine example of the artist's work - multi-layered and psychologically charged and complex. Prof. Liam Kelly, February 2024
Whyte's
Dec. 06, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920 - 1974) Girl in a Landscape Oil on board, 35 x 45cm (13¾ x 17¾) Signed Daniel ONeill had a knack for producing iconic images with a wistful, melancholy quality. Even this sunny painting, with its bright colours and
Est: €25,000 - €35,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920 - 1974) Girl in a Landscape Oil on board, 35 x 45cm (13¾ x 17¾) Signed Daniel ONeill had a knack for producing iconic images with a wistful, melancholy quality. Even this sunny painting, with its bright colours and a smiling subject, has an inward, reflective mood. The girl of the title gazes not back at the viewer but off to the side, downwards, absorbed in her own thoughts. Her elongated neck and head are sculpturally simplified in a manner influenced by Cubism. Like the the trees and vegetation, she is dramatically lit by a setting sun. As is often the case, there is an acidic edge to ONeills palette as the suns rays elicit incendiary hues. The girls vivid red skirt, and even her hair have a fiery intensity and her slight smile, together with her stance, suggests a rueful sadness, a musing on - what Love, life, loss A skilled textural painter, ONeill suggests inner agitation with the jagged rhythms of thick paintwork in the landscape, set against flat glazes of pigment. One of Northern artists known as The Belfast Boys, ONeill was born into a Catholic Belfast family and apprenticed as an electrician, but was set on becoming an artist. Eventually the indispensable dealer Victor Waddington took him on and he pursued his artistic vocation. His early work, of bomb-damaged Belfast, is understandably dark and ominous in mood, but the dark undercurrent always remained. Karen Reihill, who has worked and published extensively on ONeill and his fellow artists, has written a highly sympathetic though always level-headed account of his often troubled life. Prone to periods of depression and despair, he was tall, good-looking and attractive. He was also given to falling madly in love, but could be difficult to live with. A 1948 stay in Paris was enormously important. He adored the bohemian atmosphere and was greatly influenced by Fauvism and School of Paris painting in general. Reihill details how, in London in the late 1950s, he found himself out of fashion as moody existentialism gave way to international abstraction and, in time, Pop, in the art world. But the appeal of his work endured and, by the time of his sadly early death, it had gained renewed popularity. Aidan Dunne, November 2023
Adam's
Dec. 06, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920 1972) The Road to Rostrevor Oil on board 46 x 61.4cm (18 x 24) Signed; Inscribed with title verso Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin, framing label verso Belfast painter Daniel ONeill made the decision to paint
Est: €8,000 - €12,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920 1972) The Road to Rostrevor Oil on board 46 x 61.4cm (18 x 24) Signed; Inscribed with title verso Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin, framing label verso Belfast painter Daniel ONeill made the decision to paint full time in 1945 having worked as an electrician in the Belfast shipyards. He first exhibited with Victor Waddington in Dublin in 1946, and later with the Dawson Gallery in the 1960s. He moved to London in the late 1950s, finally returning to Belfast in 1969, where he continued to paint his highly recognisable portraits and landscapes. The evocative style and intense colours used by ONeill make for poignant and expressive pictures, and he has often been described as a romantic painter. In the present work, a pure landscape set in county Down, ONeill uses thick impastoed brushstrokes to capture the rich vegetation, rendered in muted yellows, greens, russets and ochre tones, against the brooding backdrop of the Mournes. The application of quick upright strokes creates a sense of movement in the image, we can almost feel and hear the poplar trees swaying in the wind. Brian Fallon remarked of Daniel ONeill, he is an excellent Landscapist. But in the Yeatsian way - there is more imagination than topography and concluded that ONeills best works are charged with that mysterious and unquantifiable quality which gives Art its purpose.
Adam's
Dec. 06, 2023
Daniel ONeill (1920 - 1974) Boat on Thames Oil on board, 30 x 40cm (11¾ x 15¾) Signed
Est: €6,000 - €8,000
Daniel ONeill (1920 - 1974) Boat on Thames Oil on board, 30 x 40cm (11¾ x 15¾) Signed
Adam's
Nov. 07, 2023
DANIEL O'NEILL (1920-1974)
Est: €8,000 - €12,000
Saskia. Exhibited: Irish Living Art Exhibition 1956. Signed bottom left. Oil on board. Framed. Provenance: The Dr. Kevin Moynihan Collection, Macroom, Co. Cork. Approximate Time: 12:11 Lot No: 180
Sheppards
Oct. 02, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) LANDSCAPE, COUNTY DOWN
Est: €10,000 - €15,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) LANDSCAPE, COUNTY DOWN oil on board signed lower left; titled on reverse h:20 w:27 in. Provenance: Morgan O'Driscoll, 22 January 2018, lot 9; Private collection; Whyte's, 28 November 2022, lot 41; Private collection
Whyte's
Oct. 02, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE oil on board signed lower right h:7.25 w:9.75 in. Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by the current owner's mother The artist met the first owner of this work met in 1969 at a Belfast clinic where she was then working and where O’Neill was undergoing treatment for alcoholism. In a written account of their meeting, she recalled that O’Neill was “quietly spoken and unassuming in his manner; we managed to build up a good rapport quite readily and he was able to converse freely with me”. They discussed O’Neill’s early years and frequently spoke of painting. O’Neill amused her with anecdotes about his career, such as his mother’s reaction to an early painting of a nude – “Oh Dan, cover her up” – to which request he complied; the resulting work, The Blue Skirt is now in the Ulster Museum. As their friendship grew O’Neill presented a number of impromptu gifts, including a William Conor sketch and two landscape paintings of his own. He asked his new confidante to sit for a portrait, to which she agreed. During one of the portrait sittings, she was accompanied by her then nine year old son. O’Neill encouraged the young boy to do some painting of his own, and promised that one day he would paint a clown for him. Some months later O’Neill telephoned to say he was unable to complete the portrait, and had instead transformed the work into a clown; this too he presented as a gift. In a series of letters to the owner, O’Neill gave news of his progress in the studio, telling her he had been “painting mostly at nights when everything is still and quiet”. An old transistor radio kept him company and he painted to the music of Brahms, Debussy, Mozart, Schubert and Sibelius. Most significantly he credited his return to painting to their friendship. “You without knowing it have given me the most priceless gift possible for any one person to give and this I have recently realised myself – that is the will to paint”.
Whyte's
Sep. 27, 2023
Daniel ONeill (1920 - 1974) Lot and his Daughters Oil on board, 53 x 70.5cm (20 x 24) Signed Provenance: Unidentified exhibition label, no.21 with title verso
Est: €10,000 - €15,000
Daniel ONeill (1920 - 1974) Lot and his Daughters Oil on board, 53 x 70.5cm (20 x 24) Signed Provenance: Unidentified exhibition label, no.21 with title verso
Adam's
Jun. 20, 2023
O'neill, Daniel - West Country
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
O'neill, Daniel (1920-1974) West Country Description: Oil on panel signed on lower right D O'Neill, label of Galerie d'art Waddington Dimension (PO): 14'' x 18'' Dimension (CM): 35 x 46 cm Condition report: Upon request, We will gladly answer all your inquiries in a detailed manner.
Champagne Auctions
May. 31, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Girl with a Ruff Collar Oil on board, 60 x 49.5cm (24 x 19½) Signed Provenance: With Jorgensen Gallery, Dublin, label verso Art historian Dr. S.B. Kennedy reckoned that the remarkable art dealer Victor Waddington,
Est: €40,000 - €60,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Girl with a Ruff Collar Oil on board, 60 x 49.5cm (24 x 19½) Signed Provenance: With Jorgensen Gallery, Dublin, label verso Art historian Dr. S.B. Kennedy reckoned that the remarkable art dealer Victor Waddington, a central figure in the development of Irish 20th century art, almost certainly subsidised Daniel ONeills sojourn in Paris towards the end of the 1940s. The stay was vital for the artist. He stayed in Montmartre and lapped up the atmosphere of the culturally rich, economically quite impoverished, bohemian locality. Kennedy notes the influence of two Maurices on his work: de Vlaminck and Utrillo. Their influence is perceptible thereafter in his strongly stated draughtsmanship and bold use of colour. Rather than being drawn into Cubism and its offshoots, as was the case with many other Irish artists who took the Parisian route, ONeill worked throughout his life in the representational tradition, though with a certain level of flexibility. That is, he wouldnt be out of place in the context of the English Neo-romantic artists who flourished at the time. He had a good sense for the drama of a composition - at one point he designed sets for Synges Playboy at the Abbey. His work is often notable for its wistful, yearning quality, which, together with his great technical skill, has made it particularly popular with a wide audience. Paintings of individual female subjects number among his best works. This timeless painting is one of them. Against a clear, cloudy background, the young woman looks dreamily at the viewer. She seems lost in her own thoughts and memories, a little melancholy, though a smile plays at the edges of her lips. Elaborately, stylishly dressed in several layers and colours, she sports a generous ruff. That, with the rest of her costume, and a certain otherworldly cast to the lighting, tends to place her back in time, through the centuries. ONeill embellishes fine layers of oil with applications of pure, bright pigment, giving the image a jewel-like shimmer. Born in Belfast, the son of an electrician, he followed his father into the trade, working for the corporations transport department and the shipyards. But even in his early teens he was drawn to art, studying books in the library and attending night classes at technical college. At work he opted for night shifts, painting during daylight. He was taken up by the fine painter and muralist Sidney Smith and befriended Gerard Dillon, exhibiting with him in Dublin in 1943. Victor Waddingtons support gave him the chance to establish himself as an artist. Aiden Dunne, April 2023
Adam's
May. 31, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Interior with Figure Oil on board, 40 x 30cm (15¾ x 19¾) Signed Provenance: With the Waddington Galleries Inc., Montreal, Canada, label verso Belfast painter Daniel O'Neill made the decision to paint full time in
Est: €8,000 - €12,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Interior with Figure Oil on board, 40 x 30cm (15¾ x 19¾) Signed Provenance: With the Waddington Galleries Inc., Montreal, Canada, label verso Belfast painter Daniel O'Neill made the decision to paint full time in 1945 having worked as an electrician in the Belfast Shipyards. He first exhibited with Victor Waddington in 1946, and later with the Dawson Gallery in Dublin in the 1960s. He moved to London in the late 1950s, finally returning to Belfast in 1969, where he continued to paint his highly recognisable portraits of women and girls as well as his haunting figures in landscapes. The evocative style and intense colours used by O'Neill make for poignant and expressive pictures, and he has often been described as a romantic painter.
Adam's
Apr. 18, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Woman and Two Children
Est: €15,000 - €25,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Woman and Two Children oil on board signed 'D O Neill' top right and titled verso h:46 w:35.50 cm. Provenance: Private Collection USA; These Auction Rooms, 30th April 2018 lot 34 where purchased by the present owner In this painting, O'Neill depicts a woman holds a baby swaddled in white. In front of the woman can be seen the head and shoulders of a young girl. In the background are suggestions of architectural forms; perhaps a church interior. The baby is dressed in what could be Christening robes, and the sense of timelessness conveyed in the painting is not unlike that of a Greek or Russian icon. The theme of motherhood, of women and their children, occurs constantly in the art of Daniel O'Neill. Born in 1920, the son of an electrician, he trained in that same trade, working for a time in the Belfast shipyards. He also worked as a housepainter, which taught him skills allowing him to experiment with colours and textures, as is evident in this work. His upbringing, in a city of close-knit families and traditional roles, filters through in O'Neill's paintings, which celebrate the lives of humble and unpretentious people. Unable to afford to attend art college as a full time student, O'Neill took evening classes in life drawing at the Belfast College of Art, where he became friendly with fellow-artist Gerard Dillon, and worked for a time in the studio of Sidney Smith, another evening student at the College of Art. The first exhibition of O'Neill's paintings was held in 1941, at the Mol Gallery in Belfast, and shortly afterwards he was taken on by the Victor Waddington Gallery in Dublin, which allowed him to paint full time. In 1949, he visited Paris, seeing at first hand the work of painters such as Vlaminck and Utrillo. The influence of these artists is also a key to understanding O'Neill's art. Not long after he moved with his wife and child to Conlig, Co Down, where George Campbell and Gerard Dillon were also living. Having become a member of the Ulster Contemporary Group, in 1958 O'Neill moved to London, and also travelled on the Continent. A decade later he was in Dublin, designing stage sets for Sean O'Casey's play Juno and the Paycock. In the early 1970's he returned to Belfast, but the outbreak of the 'Troubles' affected him badly, as did the resulting closure of the McClelland Gallery, where his paintings were shown. He died in 1974, aged just fifty-four. Peter Murray, March 2023
Morgan O'Driscoll
Apr. 18, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Sunday Morning
Est: €25,000 - €35,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Sunday Morning oil on board signed 'D O'Neill' lower right and titled verso h:51 w:68.70 cm. Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 30th October 2007 lot 8; deVere's, Dublin, 10th June 2008 lot 52; Private Collection In the foreground of this classic painting by O'Neill, stands the solitary and enigmatic figure of a dark-haired young woman, wearing a white blouse and red dress, her hands clasped together. The young woman's face is in shadow. Behind her, in the distance, are huddled three women and a child. Beyond is a vividly coloured coastal landscape, with blue sea in the far distance. Using a palette knife, and applying colour directly from the tube, O'Neill achieves spectacular effects, with alternating bands of blue and green pigment suggesting the landscape, and heavily textured paint suggesting bright sun hidden behind clouds, lighting up the cobalt blue sea in the background. O'Neill often gave his paintings titles that evoke time or place, such as Sunday Afternoon or Sunday Morning. The vibrant colours, evoking the painterly style of Jack B. Yeats, suggest that this is a relatively late work in the artist's career. Born in 1920 in Belfast, O'Neill trained as an electrician before working for a time in the shipyards and as a housepainter. Always interested in art, he attended evening classes at the Belfast College of Art, where he became friendly with Gerard Dillon and Sidney Smith. The first exhibition of O'Neill's paintings was held in 1940 in Belfast, and shortly afterwards he began to show with the Waddington Gallery in Dublin. In 1949, he visited Paris, seeing at first hand the work of painters such as Vlaminck and Utrillo, whose work he had, up to that time, known almost entirely through reproductions in art magazines, and admiring their use of palette knife rather than brush. In the early 1950s, after some years in London, O'Neill returned to Ireland, where, along with Dillon and George Campbell, he became a member of the Ulster Contemporary Group. With his wife and child he settled in the village of Conlig, Co Down, where Campbell and Dillon were also living. Always a restless spirit, in 1958 O'Neill moved back to London. However a successful exhibition of his work, held at the McClelland Galleries in Belfast in 1970, prompted him to return to Northern Ireland, but not long afterwards the gallery was forced to close as a result of 'The Troubles'. O'Neill died in 1974, aged just 54. Peter Murray, March 2023
Morgan O'Driscoll
Mar. 29, 2023
Â§ DANIEL O'NEILL (IRISH, 1920-1974)
Est: £3,000 - £5,000
Â§ DANIEL O'NEILL (IRISH, 1920-1974) DANIEL O'NEILL (IRISH, 1920-1974) Rural landscape with cottages signed 'D O'Neill' (lower right) oil on board 35.3 x 53.3 cm. (14 x 21 in.) Provenance Acquired by the family of the present owner, circa 1960, thence by descent ARR Daniel O'Neill was known for his expressionistic style and his contribution to the development of the Irish art scene with his distinctive use of colour and form. O'Neill's work was deeply influenced by the landscape and people of his native Ireland. He often depicted scenes from everyday life, focusing on the struggles and hardships of the Irish people. His paintings were characterized by the use of vivid colours and bold, expressive brushstrokes, which helped to convey the emotional intensity of his subjects. The artist was also an important figure in the Irish art world, and his work helped to inspire a new generation of Irish artists. He was a member of the influential Dublin-based group, the White Stag Group, which included other important Irish artists such as Louis le Brocquy and Patrick Scott.
Chiswick Auctions
Mar. 28, 2023
O'Neill, Daniel - Evening
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
O'Neill, Daniel (1920-1974) Evening Description: Oil on board, signed on lower left D O'Neill, label of Waddington's Galleries Inc Dimension (PO): 18" x 24" Dimension (CM): 46 x 61 cm Condition report: Upon request, We will gladly answer all your inquiries in a detailed manner.
Champagne Auctions
Mar. 28, 2023
O'Neill, Daniel - Tomorrow's a new day
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
O'Neill, Daniel (1920-1974) Tomorrow's a new day Description: Oil on board, signed on lower left D O'Neill Dimension (PO): 14" x 21" Dimension (CM): 35.5 x 53.5 cm Condition report: Upon request, We will gladly answer all your inquiries in a detailed manner.
Champagne Auctions
Mar. 06, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) MOTHER AND CHILD
Est: €15,000 - €20,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) MOTHER AND CHILD oil on canvas laid on board signed lower left h:16 w:20 in. O'Neill was a consummate figurative artist often drawing upon the Italian tradition for his stylistic treatment of female figures; 'Mother and Child' is a recurrent theme in his work. He regularly painted females, taken out of time in historical and exotic clothing in both interior and landscape settings. The two figures in this painting have the appearance of native Americans, as their style of dress and dark complexion would imply. Gone are the richly textured displays of flowers and turbulent foreboding skies as in other works. In this painting everything is pared back to an essential presence. As far as I know O'Neill never visited North America, although Waddington exhibited his work in Montreal and Boston. It seems likely the composition of this painting was based on a travel photograph where the sitters originally posed for a photographer and O'Neill, in turn, saw the painterly possibilities and adopted and transformed it accordingly. The resulting work, at first, appears untypical of the artist, but on closer examination there are the characteristic stylised faces and the oval-shaped eyes. There is, too, the depiction of light on the mother's legs and arm, by way of his favoured tones of blue. We are no longer in a northern temperate climate which dissipates form and where skies are often in constant flux, as in Ireland, but in a climate that emphasises form. There is a stark contrast here between light and shade. The composition is simply rendered and structured. The horizon line is set low below a cloudless uniformly blue sky, allowing for focus on the two figures. Both figures are protected from the strong sunlight on an elevated desert-like, arid and sparse foreground. They sit under an awning with supporting poles which frame and shelter the central subjects in the composition. The mother wears a plain dress and head band and the child a more decorative dress. Both retain a dignified reserve, also typical of O'Neill, looking directly at the viewer - culturally rooted, proud and assured. Prof. Liam Kelly February 2023
Whyte's
Mar. 06, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) OLD HOUSES, PAU
Est: €20,000 - €30,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) OLD HOUSES, PAU oil on board signed lower left; titled and with Dawson Gallery label on reverse h:24 w:20 in. Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin; Private collection; Adam's, 5 December 2006, lot 31; Private collection Exhibited: 'Daniel O'Neill', Dawson Gallery, Dublin, May 1971, catalogue no. 15 Early in his career O'Neill was introduced to French art - Cezanne, Picasso et al - by Sidney Smith and Gerard Dillon. He spent some months in France circa 1948/9, most likely encouraged and supported by Victor Waddington, painting street scenes in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. He he also travelled outside the French capital. 'Village in France' (Merrion Hotel collection, Dublin) is an example and depicts a street scene observed at a revealing obliquely orientated angle. He would, of course, have had the opportunity in Paris to view, at first hand, paintings by a number of modernist artists. It may be noted he paid homage to some of these artists, as in his painting 'Modigliani Land' (IMMA collection, Dublin). Pau, in southwest France, is close to Spain and located between the sea and the Pyrenees mountains. The composition of 'Old Houses, Pau' extends, by horizontally layered and ascending stages, from a river side view of houses and their brightly coloured reflections in the water to a panoramic view of the blue green mountains and luminous sky. Two cypress trees flank and contain the central focus of the 'flattened' semi-abstract forms of the houses - reminiscent of Paul Klee in their structural, cubistic depiction and phosphorescent colour range. There are many examples of O'Neill's interest in the structural build-up of architectural form, e.g. the buildings in 'Bunbeg Fishing Village', Co Donegal and urban paintings of the Belfast Blitz and later The Northern Irelandl 'Trouble's. It may be noted that there was influential 'give and take' between O'Neill and fellow northern artists Gerard Dillon, George Campbell and Colin Middleton. The latter was also fond of exploring the artistic rewards of the semi-abstract. O'Neill in 'Old Houses, Pau', with its textured mixture of abstraction and lush naturalism, clearly demonstrates the enabling benefits of his brief sojourn in France. Prof. Liam Kelly February 2023
Whyte's
Mar. 01, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Indecision Oil on board, 75 x 85cm (34' x 29½) Signed upper right Provenance: Sale, these rooms 31st March 1999, lot 86 Exhibited: Irish Exhibition of Living Art, The National College of Art, Kildare Street, Dubli
Est: €15,000 - €20,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Indecision Oil on board, 75 x 85cm (34' x 29½) Signed upper right Provenance: Sale, these rooms 31st March 1999, lot 86 Exhibited: Irish Exhibition of Living Art, The National College of Art, Kildare Street, Dublin, 16th August to 10th September 1950, catalogue no.74 Indecision is an extremely ambiguous and emotionally charged painting and reveals both ONeills ambition and also his awareness of his contemporaries. Painted not long after ONeill had travelled to Paris, where he had painted Place du Tertre (NMNI) and possibly also The Blue Skirt, which he exhibited the previous year at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art, Indecision appears to show a Belfast street scene. While birds often appeared in Colin Middletons paintings, often alongside female figures, and cats occurred in those of Gerard Dillon, animals are seen less regularly in ONeills work. Indecision is a painting which fits more closely alongside those of his contemporaries than is usual, recalling the Belfast street scenes Middleton and Dillon had painted in the early 1940s; but the heightened emotional mood of the work is typical of ONeill at this period. In part this mood is expressed through swirling passages of impasto and tenebrist lighting that set a dramatic tone and give an almost hallucinatory mood to the stark setting. This setting is highly theatrical; light pours from a streetlight and two illuminated windows in a building behind the girl (although she appears to be facing a light source as well). Her simplified, mask-like features prefigure similarly treated figures in a slightly later painting such as Birth (1952), as well as recalling ONeills interest in painting puppets. This anonymity allows him to use the girls posture to express emotions of doubt and uncertainty, with her shoulders weighed down and her feet poised on the edge of the pavement and half in shadow, appearing to being about to carry her cat away from the brightly lit buildings behind her. The cat seems to capture something of the girls personality as well as her vulnerability and social isolation. Her pink-ish coat or cardigan recalls the red waistcoats that are so often worn by men in ONeills early work, and along with her red beret the use of colour isolates her from the street scene behind. The exact nature of the situation appears elusive but it is interesting to note that in the 1940s ONeill had exhibited paintings with titles such as Trapped, Reverberation and Meditation by the Sea, suggesting that he found these almost Victorian themes extremely stimulating in the subjects they suggested. Dickon Hall
Adam's
Mar. 01, 2023
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Snow, Co. Down Oil on board, 40 x 60cm (15¾ x 23½) Signed; Signed and inscribed with title verso
Est: €10,000 - €15,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Snow, Co. Down Oil on board, 40 x 60cm (15¾ x 23½) Signed; Signed and inscribed with title verso
Adam's
Dec. 07, 2022
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Landscape with Rocks, 1953 Oil on board, 41 x 61cm (16¼ x 24'') Signed Provenance: With Arthur Tooth & Sons, label verso.
Est: €3,000 - €5,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Landscape with Rocks, 1953 Oil on board, 41 x 61cm (16¼ x 24'') Signed Provenance: With Arthur Tooth & Sons, label verso.
Adam's
Nov. 28, 2022
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) THE PIANIST
Est: €15,000 - €20,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) THE PIANIST oil on board signed upper right h:24 w:17.75 in. Provenance: de Veres, 22 June 2004, lot 60; Private collection
Whyte's
Nov. 28, 2022
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) LANDSCAPE, COUNTY DOWN
Est: €10,000 - €15,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) LANDSCAPE, COUNTY DOWN oil on board signed lower left; titled on reverse h:20 w:27 in. Provenance: Morgan O'Driscoll, 22 January 2018, lot 9; Private collection
Whyte's
Nov. 28, 2022
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) THE CHRISTENING
Est: €8,000 - €12,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) THE CHRISTENING oil on board signed lower right h:12.75 w:9.50 in. Provenance: de Veres, 8 December 2010, lot 66; Private collection
Whyte's
Nov. 28, 2022
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) FAUST, 1946
Est: €10,000 - €15,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) FAUST, 1946 oil on canvas signed upper right; titled and with dedication [To Victor Waddington Oct - 1946] on reverse h:14 w:18.25 in. Provenance: Collection of Victor Waddington; Adam's, 9 December 1998, lot 120; Private collection
Whyte's
Nov. 28, 2022
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) LANDSCAPE
Est: €6,000 - €8,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) LANDSCAPE oil on board signed lower right; inscribed with artist's name, title, medium and number [69] on label on reverse h:14 w:18 in. Provenance: Morgan O'Driscoll, 24 September 2012, lot 21; Private collection
Whyte's
Sep. 28, 2022
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Study of a Woman Indian ink and wash, 23 x 14.5cm (9 x 5¾) Signed
Est: €3,000 - €5,000
Daniel O'Neill (1920-1974) Study of a Woman Indian ink and wash, 23 x 14.5cm (9 x 5¾) Signed
Adam's

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