Albert Irvin was first introduced to the Irish art world in 1984 as one of the selected artists included in the ROSC international exhibition of contemporary art, where his large brilliantly hued canvases were a big hit, two of which were purchased by an Australian collector, the Museum of Modern Art in New South Wales. Since then he has exhibited widely in Ireland, including two solo exhibitions at the Peppercanister Gallery as well as at venues such as the Hendriks Gallery, the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny and the West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen.

Irvin is himself a colourful character, of immense charm and has been described as one of the most optimistic, colourful abstract painters of our time. Educated at Northampton School of Art, he then went on to join the Royal Air Force in 1941 where he remained for five years. He was a navigator in British Airforce airplanes during World War II and reckons the slipstreams of his many dangerous missions over Germany were an influence in the development of his expressive, abstract art.

Irvin then went on to study at the prestigious Goldsmiths’ College of Art, London from 1946 to 1950 and in 1962 returned to the college as a member of it’s teaching staff, a post he upheld for over twenty years.

Since the war years he has exhibited widely internationally and is regarded as one of Britain’s foremost living painters. His vibrant paintings are in public and private collections worldwide. He was elected a full member of the Royal Academy in London in 1998. He also shows regularly at Gimpel Fils Gallery in London. He has been the subject of numerous films and publications about his life and work, including the volume Albert Irvin: Life to Painting by Paul Moorhouse, published by Lord Humphries in 1998. He is pre-eminent in the group of modern colourists that includes John Hoyland Ra, John Bellany RA and Gillian Ayres.