Aosdána expresses its sadness at the death of artist and member Anne Madden at the age of 93.
Anne Madden was particularly well known in both Ireland and France where she divided her time. Of Irish and Anglo-Chilean origin, Anne Madden spent her first years in Chile. Her parents returned to Europe to live in Ireland and in London. During this period she was impressed by an important exhibition of American painting at the Royal Academy. It was Abstract Expressionism that opened up new possibilities of experimentation for her at that time. She later met some of these artists in Paris and New York among them Jean-Paul Riopelle, Joan Mitchell, Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner and others with some of whom she exchanged works. Anne Madden began to exhibit in group shows in London and Dublin from the age of 18. The Burren and her love of wilderness informed these early paintings. The artist’s work is represented in many public collections including the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Centre National d’Art Contemporain Georges Pompidou, Paris, Fondation Maeght, Picasso Museum, Antibes, Musée d’Art Moderne, Nice and l’Etat Francais.
Cecily Brennan, Toscaireacht Chair, said:
“On behalf of the members of Aosdána, I express our sadness at the death of the artist Anne Madden.
“Menhirs and megaliths, dolmens and passage graves, abodes of souls, transform themselves under Madden’s hand and hazel eye into the open graves of Pompeian houses. The eruption has taken place, and now we have the irruption of boiling volcanic ash into these mural-decorated private spaces.”
Derek Mahon
Exhibition catalogue Anne Madden. A Retrospective, Irish Museum of Modern Art 2007
27 June – 30 September 2007.
Anne Madden’s career, from the earliest to the most recent work, traced her fascination with creatures and sites ancient, megalithic and mythical, imagined and transformed through the power of paint and painting. The silencing of women such as Ann Lovett, and our society’s burial of unwanted memory, is a powerful theme in her late paintings shown in the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2007.
I met her first as a fellow gallery artist in the Taylor Galleries in the 1980s. She was tall, regal and formidable.
Anne studied at the Chelsea School of Art in London where she met the painter Louis le Brocquy. They married in 1958, moved to Carros in the South of France, their home for over 40 years, where two sons were born to them, Alexis and Pierre.
Anne exhibited regularly in Ireland throughout the 1960s and 1970s with major solo shows in the Dawson Gallery, Taylor Galleries, the Ulster Museum and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She was chosen to represent Ireland at the Paris Biennale in 1965.
In the 1980s, she concentrated on drawing, producing large works in graphite and oil paint on paper which were exhibited at Fondation Maeght in 1983 and ROSC ’84 with a further solo show at the Taylor Galleries in 1987.
She was elected a member of Aosdána in 1986.
In 1994, Anne was one of ten artists, myself included, commissioned by Ronnie Tallon, one of the leading architects of the time, to paint large works for the Aula Maxima of the O’Reilly Hall.
In 1999, Anne was awarded another very personal commission. The village of Carros commissioned her to paint a large, 9 metre by 6 metre vaulted ceiling in its medieval castle that now also has a permanent room dedicated to her work.
The year 2000 saw her and Louis Le Brocquy returning to Ireland, Anne settling down to work in what had been Sarah Purser’s studio in Portobello. A solo show at the Taylor Galleries in 2002 and at the Hugh Lane Gallery in 2017 followed. Her husband, Louis le Brocquy, predeceased her in 2012.
Anne Madden’s work is represented in many public collections including the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Irish Museum of Modern Art; the Centre National d’Art Contemporain Georges Pompidou, Paris; Fondation Maeght; Picasso Museum, Antibes; Musée d’Art Moderne, Nice; l’Etat Francais and The Arts Council of Ireland.
Anne Madden was made Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2008 and holds an honorary doctorate from University College Dublin (LLd) in 2006.
Anne Madden’s funeral service was held at Newman University Church, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, on Monday 29th of December 2025 at 12 noon.”
Maura Mc Grath, Chair of the Arts Council, said:
“It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Anne Madden, one of Ireland’s most significant artists. Over the course of a long and distinguished career, Anne produced work of remarkable intellectual depth and power, helping to shape modern Irish art and influencing generations through both her practice and her teaching. Anne Madden’s contribution to Irish cultural life is profound. On behalf of the Arts Council, I extend our deepest sympathies to her family, friends, fellow members of Aosdána, and all those who were inspired by her work.”
Anne Madden held an honorary doctorate from University College Dublin (LLd, 2006). The same year a television documentary produced by Mind the Gap Films was shown as part of RTE ’s Arts Lives series. In 2007 the artist was invited to deliver the prestigious Winter Lecture at Irish Museum of modern Art, and in 2008 was made Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.