Yeats Painting Sets New Irish Art Auction Record

A painting by Jack Butler Yeats has been sold for one million euro at an art auction in Dublin - the highest price ever paid at auction for a work of art in Ireland.

"A Fair Day, Mayo" was painted in 1925.

Eamon De Valera, who went on to be Irish president, displayed it in his Fianna Fail office at Suffolk Place during the 1920s.

It has been in private ownership for the past 67 years.

A south Dublin family, the Reihills, bought it for £250 in 1944.

It was offered for sale at Adams auction house's sale of "Important Irish Art" on St Stephen's Green in Dublin with a guide price of €500,000 to €800,000.

The auctioneer opened the bidding at €300,000, and it soon rose quickly in increments of €20,000.

Eventually, the oil painting from Yeats' expressionist period sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for one million euros.

It's believed the painting will stay in Ireland, and will be hung in the private home of the successful bidder, who has an extensive Irish art collection.

"This picture was one of the largest and most valuable works by Yeats to appear on the market for many years," said auctioneer James O''Halloran, managing director at Adams.

"The work had never been on the market before, yet had been seen in a number of very prestigious exhibitions including 'Images in Yeats'' which was held in Monte Carlo in 1990 and more recently 'The Moderns' at IMMA earlier this year."

A second painting by Jack Yeats, called 'The Dawn', also featured in the sale and was sold for 80,000 euros.

The artist is a brother to Nobel Prize winning Irish poet WB Yeats.