The smart set turned out on Monday night for two exhibition openings; one at the Solomon Gallery and the other at the Frederick Gallery. David Britton and Karen Reihill of the Frederick were breaking years of tradition by having an exhibition by a living artist - Philip Kelly, an Irish painter living in Mexico.
The artist's wife Ruth Kelly and their daughter Annalena were there as well as the Mexican ambassador Daniel Dultzin. RTE authoritarian Farrell Corcoran and Marina Ni Dhubhain of Cursa i Ealaine, who had featured Philip earlier in the week, also looked on. Philip had done a jacket cover for a collection of Seamus Heaney's poetry that was translated into Spanish last year, so the poet came along for a party that moved to Fitzers on Dawson Street - the restaurant will soon have two of Philip's paintings hanging on the wall.
Meanwhile, the crowd in the Solomon admired the work of Richard Colson, who was there with his wife Suzette. Eithne Healy, the chairwoman of the theatre festival, was there along with Desmond Fitzgerald, Knight of Glin; David Palmer of Independent Newspapers and his wife, novelist Elizabeth Palmer.