Ulster Museum
A place to inspire wonder, spark creativity, and explore our shared humanity.
🌍 Art, nature, and history to make sense of the past, present & future.
📍 Part of National Museums NI | 🔗 ulstermuseum.org
- This week’s #OnlineArtExchange is ‘light and dark’ 🌗 Looking furtively out from under the brim of his hat, a somewhat raffish young man - 'The Tipster', his face partly in shadow - seems to be offering the spectator a tip (presumably at a price). @artukdotorg.bsky.social
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- It's hard to feel blue in a room full of yellow - especially when there's a cat involved! 'Yellow Bungalow' depicts a cottage interior on Inishlacken, an island off the Galway coast where Gerard Dillon lived during 1950-51.
- This week's #OnlineArtExchange theme is 'bold and colourful art' to celebrate the exhibition 'Colour: A season of shades, tints & tones' @tulliecarlisle.bsky.social! 'Untitled' by Alice Berger Hammerschlag is a stunning example of her abstract work.
- Berger Hammerschlag was a prolific artist in the Belfast art scene in the 40s-60s. According to Curator of Art Anna Liesching, her colour choices were symbolic: 'Life and energy were represented with reds...pinks stood for abstract values and positivity.' © the copyright holder. BELUM.U5063 #Art
- Today's #OnlineArtExchange theme is 'angels and guardians'🪽 Phoebe Anna Traquair was a Dublin-born artist known for her contributions to the Arts and Crafts movement in Scotland. Skilled in mediums incl. painting, manuscript illumination & embroidery, she also had an interest in jewellery design.
- This week's #OnlineArtExchange theme is, of course, Christmas! It looks like we won't be having a white #Christmas this year, so enjoy 'Winter above Ligoniel' by Frederick W. Hull instead. #UlsterMuseum #Art @artukdotorg.bsky.social
- 🌼 New display alert 🌼 John Templeton (1766–1825) was a Belfast-born and based pioneer of Irish botany. He advanced our understanding of plant biodiversity at a time when Irish flora was not well-known, methodically observing, recording, and illustrating the plants of this place.
- This week's #OnlineArtExchange is 'the natural world' to mark the exhibition 'The Nature of Gothic' at Blackburn Museum 🌅 'Nature Rhythm - Dawn (Sunrise Meditation)' (1930), by Art O'Murnaghan, is an exquiste work of ink & gouache on card. #UlsterMuseum #Art @artukdotorg.bsky.social
- Congratulations to Jonathan Anderson for winning Designer of the Year at the #FashionAwards! Born in Magherafelt, NI, Anderson has gained an international reputation for his highly innovative designs. He was appointed creative director of Loewe in 2013 & the sole creative director of Dior in 2025.
- This week's #OnlineArtExchange theme is 'emotion' to celebrate the opening of 'Subversive Forms: Revolutionary approaches to clay', an exhibition at @chippenham_museum On display now in our exhibition 'Art of the Possible' is this astonishing piece by Peter Ting and Zha Cai Duan.
- Today's #OnlineArtExchange theme is 'most dramatic artworks' 🎭 'Cassandra' (c.1863-64) by Frederick Sandys depicts the tragic cries of Cassandra - bestowed with the gift of prophecy, cursed to have no one believe her. #UlsterMuseum #Art #GreekMythology @artukdotorg.bsky.social
- If you've spotted the murmuration at Albert Bridge in recent weeks, you might've noticed that the current flock is smaller than this one. Conor McKinney, founder & chair of Wild Belfast, talks about the passionate work it took to save the iconic sight of a murmuration over Belfast → bit.ly/3ZQ9Rx2
- 👻 Did you know we had a real photograph of a ghost in our collection?! Well - sort of. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, some photographers claimed that they could capture spirits on camera. In reality, a variety of techniques were used to create the illusion of a haunting.
- This week's #OnlineArtExchange theme is 'autumn' 🍂 'Field Workers' by William Wells is a painting of workers in a field on a breezy effervescent autumn day, masterly in execution and full of atmosphere. #UlsterMuseum #Autumn @artukdotorg.bsky.social 🎨: 'Field Workers', William Wells. BELUM.U2038
- This week's #OnlineArtExchange theme is glamour to celebrate the NPG's exhibition 'Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World'! John Lavery's 'The Red Hammock' (1936) oozes glamour, the subject lounging in a hammock wearing white ruffles, shading herself from the sun with a parasol. @artukdotorg.bsky.social
- 🐶 Taking a photo with your pet? Not a modern concept! 🐾 Today's #OnlineArtExchange theme is 'animals', so here's a selection of three paintings from our collection with the most adorable dogs! #UlsterMuseum #Art #Portraiture #Dogs #Puppies @artukdotorg.bsky.social
- If you missed 'Wild Ireland', you can still watch our curator tour with wildlife painter Julian Friers and Curator of Geology Dr. Mike Simms. Watch the full video here → bit.ly/48cdVfZ #UlsterMuseum #WildIreland #WildlifeArt #WildlifePainter #WildlifeArtist #BirdPaintings
- "Take a deep breath and choose one painting. And just let it talk to you". Relax into your Monday and look at some art with Senior Curator of Art, Anne Stewart 🔍 🖼️ #UlsterMuseum #ArtCollection #ItalianPaintings #FlemishPaintings #DutchPaintings #ItalianArt #FlemishArt #DutchArt #ArtHistory
- This week’s #OnlineArtExchange theme is ‘Victorian’, to celebrate the exhibition ‘Victorian Treasures from Cecil French and Scott Thomas Buckle' at Leighton House. Painter W. G. Mackenzie studied in Belfast, London and Paris and was a regular exhibitor at the Belfast Art Society.
- These astonishing pieces on display in 'Art of the Possible' were crafted by Steffen Dam, a glass artist from Denmark. Dam’s inspiration comes from the natural world, particularly marine & plant life. 'Marine Group' (2019) echoes the specimen jars held in the our Natural Sciences spirit collection.
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- Assistant Curator Agrippa Njanina shares his story of rediscovering the #mbira, a traditional instrument from Zimbabwe, and how it travelled with him to Northern Ireland. Read Agrippa's blog and watch the full video → bit.ly/3V8z1UW #TraditionalMusic #AfricanMusic #MusicHeritage #CulturalHeritage
- 🐱This week’s @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange theme is ‘Welsh art and artists’ to celebrate the exhibition ‘From the Collection’ opening at Oriel Môn this weekend. What better artwork to share than ‘Cat’ by Pembrokeshire-born Gwen John! #UlsterMuseum #Cat #Cath
- Wild Ireland contains 60 original paintings by renowned wildlife artist Julian Friers. Tour the exhibition and explore the paintings with Julian and Dr Mike Simms, as they discuss Julian's love of birds, his methods and how he blends science with art. Watch the full video here → bit.ly/45pTlWB
- It's #AugustCraftMonth! 'Bird' (2018) by Bruce Marks is on display in 'Art of the Possible'. With 'Bird', Marks has stripped back the form of a bird to its essentials, where it retains its undeniable bird-like quality. The bright red opening of the glass sculpture mimics the gaping beak of a bird.
- 'Bird' (2018), Bruce Marks. © Bruce Marks. BELUM.V2018.2.
- This week's #OnlineArtExchange theme is abstract art, and who else to feature but #MainieJellett? Born in Dublin, she studied at the Metropolitan School of Art and Westminster School of Art in London, later moving to Paris. By 1923 she was painting in a completely abstract, Cubist-inspired style.
- Happy #Pride, Belfast! To celebrate, we want to share 'Fear', 'The Shame' and 'Chaps' from the series 'The Glamour Boys' (2024) by Simon Dredge. 'The Glamour Boys' celebrates #LGBTQHistory and those who helped pave the way for equal rights. #UlsterMuseum #BelfastPride #Art © Simon Dredge
- Beulah Oluwadamilola Abu, an MA graduate in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies @ulsteruni.bsky.social, has conducted research on the Ibeji figures from Nigeria in our World Cultures collection. Read her insights into their deep cultural and spiritual significance → bit.ly/457yMy1
- 🤳 This week's theme for @artukdotorg.bsky.social's #OnlineArtExchange is 'self portraits'! 'Self Portrait' (1945-49), by James Sinton Sleator, is just one of many self portraits the artist painted; Armagh County Museum hold this painting, also titled 'Self Portrait', in their collection.
- This week's #OnlineArtExchange theme is summer ☀ 🕶 Northern Ireland is finally warming up in time for the long weekend. For many of us, that means an afternoon lounging in Ormeau Park. 🎨 'Horseshoe Flower Bed in Ormeau Park, Belfast' (c.1910) by Hans Iten, captures the lovely scenes ahead of us.
- Did you ever wonder where all the starlings went at the Lagan Bridge? Wild Belfast member Dawn re-tells the beautiful and poignant story of the murmurations disappearance, and return. Article by @wildlifeni.bsky.social → bit.ly/3ZQ9Rx2 #Murmurations #WildIreland
- 👃 Today's #OnlineArtExchange theme is 'smells in art' for ‘Scented Visions' at the Watts Gallery. 🌸 'Still Life' by Georges Jeannin overflows with sensory information. You can almost smell the bright bouquet and the slightly acrid odor of the spilt vase water. @artukdotorg.bsky.social
- On this day in 1928, the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act became law. Women could vote on equal terms with men. Find out how a mug from HMP Holloway became part of our collection, courtesy of life-long educator and women's rights activist Margaret Robinson → bit.ly/UM_VotesForWomen
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- While working on the #NIPrisonServiceCollection, Rebecca Laverty, Curator of Modern History, discovers a fire extinguisher with "IRA" scratched into the side. Watch our videos on this documentation project here → bit.ly/43Y4Cwq #UlsterMuseum #BehindTheScenes #TroublesAndBeyond
- A Farm in a Wooded Landscape (1630) by Dutch artist Jan van Goyen (1596 - 1656). This new acquisition significantly strengthens the Ulster Museum’s small, but increasingly important, collection of 17th century Dutch paintings. Purchased in 2024 with the assistance of the Esmé Mitchell Trust.
