Colourful Ireland

“Colourful pubs and shop fronts” were among the topics mentioned in the briefing for my latest photo assignment for Tourism Ireland. The brief called for the kinds of subjects that visitors instinctively associate with Ireland: traditional pubs in all shades of colour and towns and villages with gloriously painted facades. No elaborate location scouting was needed for this one. In my former adopted home of West Cork, these scenes meet you at every turn. The villages and small towns here seem to be engaged in a quiet but spirited competition over who can put the most magnificent colours on their walls.

Ireland’s capital, Dublin, is known for its brightly painted front doors, which appear like bursts of colour in a dull watercolour painting. In the west of the country, though, they don’t hold back on colour, and creativity knows no bounds. These colourful streetscapes have long since become iconic subjects that draw visitors from all over the world. Rightly so, because the painted houses convey an irrepressible joy for life and stand for a cultural identity. They also serve as a shining counterpoint to the often harsh weather conditions along the coast.

Interestingly, these colourful façades don’t have a long tradition at all. Until the mid-20th century, most houses in Ireland were grey or, at best, whitewashed. It was only from the 1960s onwards that the Irish found the courage to embrace colour. Rumour has it that fishermen came up with the idea of painting their houses with the leftover paint from their boats. Others claim it was the Tidy Towns and Villages competition, launched in 1958, that prompted the Irish to pick up a brush and spruce up their towns and villages. Nowadays, it is impossible to determine the exact trigger. What is certain, however, is that Ireland has gained yet another trademark with its colourful houses. One that is now considered just as typically Irish as sheep on vast green fields or leprechauns at the end of the rainbow.