Especially in the visual arts it is, on the contrary, a story of never-ending argument, of works that are disliked, rejected, fought over, even painted over. Instead of the artists supporting the state and the state supporting the artists, it is a case of the artists challenging and upsetting the community and the community looking warily at the artists.

This is what makes Irish art, at its best, so edgy, so embattled and so vital. They were compiled by the Royal Irish Academy in partnership with The Irish Times. The visual artworks were chosen from the RIA’s research project the five volume publication, Art and Architecture of Ireland. Most artists and writers featured in the series have been profiled in the RIA’s Dictionary of Irish Biography which outlines the lives at home and overseas of prominent men and women born in Ireland, north and south, and the noteworthy Irish careers of those born outside Ireland. Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks, our latest publication in partnership with The Irish Times, has made the shortlist for this year’s Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards. You can vote for the book here.