Last updated: 28 October 2026
Diana Copperwhite is the Irish artist known for big, layered oil paintings shot through with bands of spectral colour. Here you will find our take on her work, where to see Diana Copperwhite now, how to buy her paintings, and her small panel in this year’s War Child auction.
Our take on Diana Copperwhite
Copperwhite paints the gap between what we see and what we remember. She builds a canvas in layers, then scrapes back, and her trademark is a band of rainbow colour, like light split through a prism. “There can be gaps in perception versus reality, and painting is another reality that doesn’t have to correspond,” she told Visual Artists Ireland in 2022.
Her War Child panel, Deconstructed of a Flower 6, packs that language into a small landscape-format board. Horizontal streaks of brown, cream, red, navy, acid yellow and pale blue run across it, dragged wet into each other. On the left, thick blobs of blue, pink, oxblood and cream stack up like a column. Meanwhile, a few thin lines are scratched through the paint, curving down like falling stems.
The process is open-ended by design. “I think when I’m painting, I’m looking for something, but I don’t know what that is,” she said in the same interview. She has a solo show coming at The Model in Sligo in 2027, and her large canvases sit in Ireland’s national collections, so a small board like this is a rare way in.
Diana Copperwhite: the essentials
- Born in Limerick in 1969. She lives and works in Dublin and New York, according to Kevin Kavanagh.
- Studied at Limerick School of Art and Design, the National College of Art and Design, Dublin (BA Painting, 1994), and Winchester School of Art in Barcelona (MA European Fine Art, 2000).
- Elected to Aosdána, Ireland’s affiliation of artists, in 2022. She won the AIB Prize in 2007.
- First showed with Flowers Gallery in 2022, when Sean Scully picked her for his show Hidden UK, Hidden Ireland. She was also in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2024.
- Her work is in the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Hugh Lane in Dublin and the Arts Council of Ireland collection, according to her War Child CV.
- Represented by Kevin Kavanagh, Dublin, and Flowers Gallery, London.
Where to see Diana Copperwhite now
- Coming up: Sound & Vision 2026, a War Child charity auction online from 27 October to 12 November 2026, with the works on view at Iconic Images Gallery, London, 6 to 8 November. The piece is Deconstructed of a Flower 6 (2026), oil on board, 21 x 15 cm (8.3 x 5.9 in), lot page.
- The Only Thing Is The Everything (solo), Kevin Kavanagh, Dublin, 12 February to 14 March 2026.
- Supernova (group), Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London, 16 July to 31 August 2024.
- Onomatopoeia (solo), Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London, 10 January to 17 February 2024.
How to buy a Diana Copperwhite painting
Diana Copperwhite does not have prints on sale. Her paintings sell through her two galleries, and one small panel is in a charity auction:
- Deconstructed of a Flower 6, 2026: a small oil on board in the War Child Sound & Vision auction, bidding from £100 until 12 November 2026 (bid here).
- Paintings: through Kevin Kavanagh in Dublin or Flowers Gallery in London, which lists works such as Neural (2023), price on request.
Diana Copperwhite FAQs
Which galleries represent Diana Copperwhite?
Kevin Kavanagh in Dublin and Flowers Gallery in London.
What are the rainbow bands in Diana Copperwhite’s paintings?
Spectral colour, like white light split by a prism or an oil slick. She has said she looks closely at light sources and how white light is made from the spectrum.
Is Diana Copperwhite a member of Aosdána?
Yes. She was elected to Aosdána in 2022.
Where can I see her work in London?
Her War Child panel is on view at Iconic Images Gallery from 6 to 8 November 2026.
More from CoolCuration
- Howard Hodgkin Indian Leaves print: a colour-led painter she has shown alongside.
- Ha Chong-Hyun at Lisson review: another abstract painter of layered, worked surfaces.
- Great Women Artists: the Phaidon survey book.
- Art on a Postcard: another charity art sale where small works by big names go for less.
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Main image: Diana Copperwhite at Onomatopoeia, Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, 2024. Photo: Antonio Parente, courtesy Flowers Gallery. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates, prices, auction results and market figures last checked: 28 October 2026.
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