YOU never know where you're going to hear words of wisdom. There she was buttoned up to the neck with her beret pulled down to her eyebrows. Pearl Clarke, from Galway, is "just looking" at the paintings. She stops to recite one of her poems and pass on some of her wisdom: "You'll get great inspiration if you sit still by a river and just watch the ducks - anything to do with nature." With that, Pearl turns back to examine the work of Estella Solomons which has just gone on view at the Frederick Gallery.
The artist, a Dubliner, died in the 1960s. She was married to poet Seumas O'Sullivan - they married late in life in deference to her family's wishes, she being Jewish and he Christian.
Only six of the paintings are without the red sold spots, but Professor Cyril Smyth, of Trinity College, Dublin, who has only three oils on his walls, doesn't mind. He collects prints and etchings mostly.
"I really love all the paintings," says Japanese ambassador Kazuko Yokoo, before she slips out into the night. Also enjoying the exhibition are Miranda, Lady Broadbent and her friend, Carmel Kelly, honorary secretary of the Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland.