When Time Began to Rant and Rage: Figurative Painting from Twentieth- Century Ireland examines the intersections between painting and politics and between Irishness and internationalism in Irish painting of our century. Twentieth-century Irish history has raised many questions of identity, of the individual in society, and of Ireland's relationship to the larger world. Such questions derive in large measure from centuries of colonial status during which all of Ireland was ruled by the English, and more recently over 75 years of partition. Only, however, at the dawn of the twentieth century did Irish painters begin to investigate and attempt to define an Irish identity in their work, establishing a dialogue in which the desire to define an Irish school of painting co-existed with the desire to participate in international art movements.

With the rise of Irish nationalist energies in the 1870s and the Celtic Revival movement in the arts of the 1890s, increasing emphasis was placed on the need to discover a distinctly Irish identity. Many painters actively participated in this effort, which often involved turning to the culture of Ireland's Celtic, pre-English past. The emphasis on discovering or building an Irish identity in the arts has continued across the twentieth century, a century marked by periods of great political unrest in Ireland—the independence movement, the war of independence (1919–21), partition between what is now the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in 1922, civil war (1922–24), and the Troubles (1968–98). The advent of the Troubles brought renewed artistic interest in identity questions. For these reasons, the twentieth century is, arguably, the only period in Irish history in which distinctly Irish characteristics can be identified in paintings by Irish artists. Prior to this time, most Irish painters worked in styles largely dictated by English or Continental artistic practice, often emigrating to London or elsewhere in search of markets for their work.

The exhibition takes its title from the poem "To Ireland in the Coming Times" by the Irish poet, playwright, and statesman W. B. Yeats. The poem identifies the writer's day as the one in which "Ireland's heart began to beat," a time defined by renewed anger and new energy. This energy can be found throughout the century's figurative painting, a genre that has remained especially vibrant in Ireland, and that has explored with particular richness issues of identity, Irishness, and internationalism. Many of these artists have struggled with the meaning of foreign influence, on politics and on their work, and with the link of the individual to the Irish land. These considerations remind us that Ireland is a land that has been defined by opposition, between Celt and Anglo-Saxon, between Catholic and Protestant. Further, they suggest that it may be useful to think of all Irish figurative painting as political, as involving conscious or unconscious choices about identity in a dialogue between the Irish and the Other.

When Time Began to Rant and Rage: Figurative Painting from Twentieth-Century Ireland is organized by the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and is made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, dedicated to expanding American understanding of human experience and cultural heritage. Additional funding has been provided by the American Ireland Fund; the British Council in conjunction with the Department of Education, Northern Ireland; and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Dublin. The Grey Art Gallery presentation has been made possible with the help of Glucksman Ireland House at New York University and with support from Martin and Carmel Naughton, The Cultural Relations Committee of Ireland/Comhar Cultúra Eireann, Allied Irish Bank, Country Bank, O'Sullivan Antiques, Aer Lingus, the Abby Weed Grey Trust, and generous private funding.