Record 750 artworks submitted for 2026 National Gallery portrait prize

Detailed summary

As well as paintings and photographs, this year’s entrants include video, pastel, pencil and even blood among their materials ...

A record 750 artists have submitted works for the 2026 AIB Portrait Prize, according to the head curator of the National Gallery of Ireland, Brendan Rooney.

“This year was the largest number of submissions in the 13 years of the prize,” said Rooney.

Speaking on the sheer volume of applicants, he said “it was remarkable, and suggests that [the portrait prize] really has established itself on the calendar for artists”.

Established in 2014, the competition is open to both Irish artists abroad and those based in Ireland, working in any medium. The portrait must have been produced in the last three years.

The winner receives a cash prize of €15,000 and a commission of €5,000 to produce a portrait for inclusion in the National Gallery’s portrait collection, with a subject of the gallery’s choosing. There are two “highly commended” prizes of €1,500 each. This year’s exhibition opens today.

Of the 26 works shortlisted, there are 12 paintings and nine photographs, and the remaining five artworks were created using mixed media such as video, pastel, pencil and the blood of one of the exhibiting artists.

Domnick Sorace’s Self-Extended, created in 2023, makes use of the artist’s blood and distilled water, showcased in hollow glass spheres.

Joe Caslin’s Seen reproduces his 50ft mural of a transgender man originally installed on Dublin’s Townsend Street, using graphite and digital drawing, and archival pigment print on cotton rag paper.

The winner of the 2026 Portrait Prize will be announced on Wednesday, December 2nd. The works are judged “blind”, meaning the panel of Irish artist Brian Fay, writer Joseph McBrinn and the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s head of collections, Christina Kennedy, do not know the identity of the artists.

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