With this digital companion to the documentary The Geneva Window: Through a Glass Darkly, Ardal O'Hanlon guides us in a deeper exploration of the panels.
Clarke's work contains panels depicting scenes from the works of Pádraig Pearse, Lady Gregory, G.B. Shaw, J.M. Synge, Seumas O'Sullivan, James Stephens, Sean O'Casey, Lennox Robinson, W.B. Yeats, Liam O'Flaherty, George Russell, Padraic Colum, George Fitzmaurice, Seumas O'Kelly and James Joyce.
Explore the window in detail with our interactive exhibit and watch our introductions to each panel.
Explore the window
A patriot's poetry and a mythical passion play
The Wayfarer
Pearse was a leader of the 1916 Rising and wrote "The Wayfarer" just before his execution; the inclusion of this panel would have been beyond reproach.
The story brought by Brigit
Lady Augusta Gregory's cultural nationalism is undoubted but were there reservations about her background in the Protestant Ascendancy?
Watch
The Wayfarer | Patrick Pearse
The beauty of the world hath made me sad,
This beauty that will pass.
Sometimes my heart hath shaken with
great joy.....
Shaw's "tragedy without villains"
St. Joan
As George Bernard Shaw had just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, he may well have been seen favourably by the Irish establishment. Would it be enough to offset reservations about his biting wit or socialist leanings?
Watch
St. Joan | G.B. Shaw
Joan: O God that
madest this beautiful
earth, when will it be ready
to receive Thy Saints? How
long O Lord, how long?
Synge's controversial play and O'Sullivan's poem in new light
The Playboy of the Western World
There is mischief in J.M. Synge's playboy but the scandalous pose is outshone by the colours used to create Harry's vision of the controversial play.
The Others
Seumas O'Sullivan's magical poem is innocent, in stark contrast to Clarke's imagining of the fairy and mortal characters.
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The Playboy of the Western World | J.M. Synge
Well, the heart's a wonder; and, I'm thinking, there
won't be our like in Mayo, for gallant lovers, from this hour today
A fable alongside one of literature's most recognisable characters
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The Demi Gods | James Stephens
The dark curtain of night moved
noiselessly, and the three angels
stepped nobly in the firelight
Contemporary plays with controversial depictions
The Dreamers
Recounting Robert Emmet's doomed 1803 rebellion, this play is not a hymn to a revered hero but rather a potentially controversial depiction of a vain and impetuous leader.
The Countess Cathleen
This Yeats play caused consternation because Cathleen sells her soul to the devil to save the lives of her tenant farmers.
Watch
The Dreamers | Lennox Robinson
If I were to die tomorrow all I would ask
from the world would be the charity of its silence.
The epicentre of the Geneva Window's infamy
Mr. Gilhooley
Probably the most controversial panel depicts Mr. Gilhooley observing a practically naked version of Nelly; the book and the author's controversial nature flows through the panel.
Deirdre
Russell's only play was based on the tragic Irish heroine of Deirdre of the Sorrows and her lover, Naoise; the panel seems to bear little or no relation to the dramatic work.
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Mr. Gilhooley | Liam O'Flaherty
She came towards him dancing, moving
the folds of the veil, so that they
unfolded slowly, as she danced.
Sadness sits aside psychedelic madness
A Cradle Song
A dark-themed poem's depiction of the sadness of a poor peasant woman is contrasted with Clarke's imagining of the woman in a cloak of the finest brocade.
The Magic Glasses
In a setting typical of Clarke, the sadness of "A Cradle Song" sits aside the psychedelic and extraordinary madness of this Fitzmaurice play.
Watch
A Cradle Song | Padraic Colum
Mavourneen is going from me
and from you
Where Mary will fold him in
mantle of blue!
Taboo and humour in O'Kelly's story, and lesser-known Joyce
The Weaver's Grave | Seumas O'Kelly
A macabre while wryly amusing short story brought to life by Clarke, replete with humour and sexual tension.
James Joyce
Clarke may have thought about including Ulysses but it was already banned; were these lines from Joyce's poetry collection Chamber Music a safer choice?
Watch
The Weaver's Grave | Seamus O'Kelly
The widow thought that the world was
strange, the sky extraordinary, the man's
head against the red sky a wonder, a poem
Explore further
The Geneva Window: Through a Glass Darkly
This documentary considers how the artwork came about, the controversial aspects that led to the Irish Government demurring in accepting the commission for its intended purpose and the story of the window in the years after Clarke's premature death.
The documentary is presented by Ardal O'Hanlon and directed by Gerry Hoban, with co-funding by Oireachtas TV and Comisiúin Na Meán under the Sound and Vision Fund.
Watch
Discover Harry Clarke's art
Harry Clarke is recognised as one of Ireland's most accomplished stained glass artists. He created more than 160 stained glass windows, most of which can be seen around Ireland and the world.
Take a look at our map to find the locations of Harry Clarke's stained glass windows
With thanks | The Wolfsonian-FIU
Clarke's Geneva Window resides in Florida's Wolfsonian Museum, a museum that explores the inventive and provocative character of the modern world.
The Geneva Window: Through a Glass Darkly and this page use resources kindly made available by the Wolfsonian Museum. The museum owns the Geneva Window and all images are courtesy of The Wolfsonian FIU, Miami, Florida.