Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
Derry unveils canvass that invokes Goya to make a compelling political point
The 30th of January, inset: the words of Major General Robert Ford the Commander Land Forces, Northern Ireland

THE title of Dubliner Robert Ballagh’s painting, The 30th of January, is a deliberate allusion to Goya’s The Third of May.

While in Goya’s masterpiece Madrid is the background for the murderous executions of said date in 1808, in Ballagh’s canvas it is the Derry skyline.

Ballagh’s painting has been put on display at the Guildhall in Derry and will be will be unveiled to members of the Bloody Sunday families at a special event. It has been open to members of the public from January 14.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
metamorf
Exhibition review / 16 July 2025
16 July 2025

JOHN GREEN is stirred by an ambitious art project that explores solidarity and the shared memory of occupation

HYPNOTIC: People and Guernica in 2024 at the Museum Of Queen Sofa, Madrid. Pic: Ertly/CC
Exhibition / 24 May 2025
24 May 2025

Reading Picasso’s Guernica like a comic strip offers a new way to understand the story it is telling, posits HARRIET EARLE  

Literature / 25 March 2025
25 March 2025
JESSICA WIDNER explores how the twin themes of violence and love run through the novels of South Korean Nobel prize-winner Han Kang
Lightweight boxer Dick McTaggart who won 'Lightweight' gold
Men's boxing / 31 January 2025
31 January 2025
JOHN WIGHT writes on the life and illustrious career of Dick McTaggart – perhaps the most underappreciated boxer in history