Collaborating in Conflict: The Yeats Family & The Public Arts Symposium

In February 2026, the McMullen Museum of Art will host the exhibition Collaborating in Conflict: The Yeats Family and the Public Arts. Examining the extraordinary impact the talented Yeats family had on cultural life and the public arts in Ireland during a century crucial to its history, the exhibition features over two hundred works from premier public and private collections. Paintings, drawings, prints, embroideries, books, and letters by the patriarch, John Butler Yeats, and his children, William, Lily, Elizabeth, and Jack, showcase individual artistry. The exhibition is open from February 1 to May 31.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog, edited by Marjorie Howes, which includes fifteen essays by an interdisciplinary team of scholars offering new insights into historical contexts and interpretive frameworks for studying the Yeatses. A two-day symposium with contributing scholars will be held in Connolly House and at the McMullen Museum on February 20th and 21st.

Speakers include: 

• Marjorie Howes (Boston College)
• Hannah Baker (Trinity College Dublin)
• Sarah McAuliffee (National Gallery of Ireland)
• Christy Pottroff (Boston College)
• Marie Lynch (National Gallery of Ireland)
• Christian Dupont and Diana Larsen (Boston College)
• Andrew Kuhn (Rare Book School, University of Virginia)
• Angela Griffith (Trinity College Dublin)
• Billy Shortall (Trinity College Dublin)
• Róisín Kennedy (University College Dublin)
• Adrian Paterson (University of Galway)
• Tom Walker (Trinity College Dublin)

Registration for this event is required. Please register here by Wednesday, February 18th.

Watch videos on the creation of the exhibition: Anticipating Yeatses & Unquiet Dreams.