13.25 by 25.25in. (33.7 by 64.1cm)

Title: DREAMING
Note: Dreaming (lot 44) and Shamrock Moon (lot 43) belong to a series of works that Gerard Dillon painted from the mid-1960s that featured the figure of Pierrot. First appearing in paintings such as The Brothers, circa 1965, Dillon's Pierrot acted as an alter ego for the artist. James White has suggested that the introduction of the Pierrot figure into Dillon's work was partly in reaction to the untimely death of his brother Joe from a heart defect in 1962. Having recently suffered an illness related to his own weak heart, and fearing that he would soon follow his brother, Dillon began to paint tableaux of melancholy Pierrots contemplating death in imaginary landscapes. Dillon's decision to adopt Pierrot as his alter ego was not only a reference to the historical appearance of the figures of Harlequin and Pierrot in the work of seminal Modernist artists including Picasso, Braque and Miró, but also references his concealment of his ambiguous sexuality in the conservative Ireland of the time.(From an abridged note by Dr Riann Coulter, October 2006)

gouache and collage elements on paper

signed lower right