DANIEL Nelis, from Ramelton has been announced as the winner of the National Gallery of Ireland’s AIB Portrait Prize.
His work, titled ‘Late Spring’, was revealed as the winning portrait during a prize-giving ceremony at the Gallery.
Along with a €15,000 prize, Nelis will also receive a €5,000 commission to create a new work for the National Portrait Collection.
Nelis said “This work is of my wife, Andrea, painted in the months before our marriage. Andrea has been a recurring presence in my work. The painting does not seek to sentimentalise our relationship, but to bear witness through an intimate and intrusive lens, with elements such as the fabrics and heather rendered with the same scrutiny as the figure. Such moments of quiet reflection, experienced in the vivid reality of the present, are of greatest interest in my work.”
Daniel Nelis is a visual artist, curator and art educator from Donegal. Rooted in the desolate boglands of his home, his paintings capture moments of stillness and contemplation, and through the intimacy of the mark-making, register Nelis’s heightened awareness of the incursions of time.
AIB Portrait Prize Winner, Daniel Nelis with Colin Hunt and Caroline Campbell. Photo: Robbie Reynolds
Nelis studied Fine Art Painting at Ulster University, later completing an MA in Art History, Collections and Curating at University College Dublin. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, at the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts.
John Foley and Conor O’Leary received highly commended prizes of €1,500 for their works ‘Biddy Boy and ‘The Final Portrait’
Daniel’s work, titled Late Spring, was revealed as the winning portrait during a prize-giving ceremony at the Gallery.
The judges for the AIB Portrait Prize were: Gareth Reid, artist; Professor Emily Mark-FitzGerald, Professor in the School of Art History & Cultural Policy in UCD; and Dr Barbara Dawson, Director of the Hugh Lane Gallery.
The AIB Portrait Prize exhibition, featuring 26 shortlisted works in total, is now open at the National Gallery of Ireland. It will run until March 15 2026 alongside the AIB Young Portrait Prize exhibition of 20 shortlisted portraits. Both exhibitions will also be showcased in the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny from April 4 – July 20, and the Waterford Gallery of Art from July 18 – October 11 2026.
Find out more at www.nationalgallery.ie.
