Former supermarket tycoon Ben Dunne and his wife Mary are selling part of their personal art collection in an exhibition in Dublin set to generate millions in sales.
The Mary and Ben Dunne Collection, featuring 39 paintings, will be held at Gormleys in Dublin from September 8-22, before moving to Belfast for two weeks. Mr Dunne, 73, who runs a chain of six gyms in Dublin, Meath and Laois, said: "We are at a stage where we are downsizing and we haven’t got the space to display the full collection. So we are happy to bring part of it to exhibition and sale.”
The unique collection, which is set to break recent Irish gallery records for a single exhibition, includes works by Irish artists such as Jack B Yeats, John Lavery, Roderic O’Conor, Mary Swanzy and Walter Osborne, some valued at up to €1 million.
