One month, one painting : Dublin’s Liffey swim by Jack B. Yeats, Ireland

This expressionist painting from 1923 captures the excited crowd attending The Liffey Swim – an annual swimming event that continues in Dublin to this very day.
First run in 1920, the Liffey Swim is the oldest annual swimming race in Europe.
Over 500 swimmers of all ages, abilities and nationalities compete to win the Cup!

The scene shows ordinary spectators who lined the city’s river, leaning over the walls to catch a glimpse of the race.

Interestingly, it was for this painting that Yeats won a silver medal in the OLYMPIC GAMES which – between 1912 and 1948 – featured artists, as well as athletes. The catch? All the art had to depict sporting scenes.

Read more :
– National Gallery of Ireland
– https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jack-Butler-Yeats
– https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/more-than-500-swimmers-take-to-the-river-liffey-in-long-standing-dublin-tradition/a421193076.html

Source : adapted from https://dublin.ie/

(ESL teaching : for educational purposes only)