In a Dublin Park, Light and Shade

In a Dublin Park, Light and Shade is an oil on canvas painting by the Irish artist Walter Osborne, completed c. 1895, and housed in the National Gallery of Ireland.

The work is renowned for both its harrowing depiction of Dublin's poor at the turn of the 20th century, and its detailing of the effects of light and shadow, and evidences the artist's learning from the French Impressionists.

[1] It was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1895, and was one of Osborne's early commercially successful paintings,[2] and established him as one of Ireland's most important 19th century painters.

The central character, brilliantly lit by the light falling from the left, is a young woman holding an infant on her knee, who looks out wearily at the viewer, and appears exhausted and ill.

According to Niamh Keaveney, of the Centre for the Study of Irish Art, "there is a very tangible feeling of struggle and weariness when we look at the figures’ expressions.