Famine
Medium- Charcoal
Size: H88cm x W100cm
Famine
The famine was the most tragic and significant event in Irish history and one of the worst human disasters of the nineteenth century. The Irish depended on the potato and the failure of the potato crop in 1845 was disastrous. The crop failed again in 1846, 1847, and 1848. By 1851, the population of Ireland had been reduced by more than two million due to starvation, disease, and emigration to Britain and North America. This study features a mother and her three children. The stark background and stormy sky adds to the atmosphere of the tragic situation of another family struggling for survival on the road-side. This work is housed in the Mayo County Council Offices in Castlebar, Co. Mayo
