My life in colour - Anne Madden on artistic success and a life in France and Ireland

Anne Madden’s artistic success in France allowed her get away from just being seen as Louis le Brocquy’s wife, writes Alan O’Riordan

ANNE MADDEN returned to Dublin some years ago, after spending more than 30 years living in the south of France with her husband, the artist Louis le Brocquy. But imaginatively, at least a part of her is very much still there. Her new paintings are full of what she calls “the sky, the sea and Mediterranean light”. And, even their unifying theme is distinctly Mediterranean, referencing Ariadne’s golden thread, which the mythic figure gave to Theseus when he went into the Minotaur’s labyrinth.

Her house, on a terrace of villas on a quiet street in Portobello, Dublin, is full of her and her late husband’s work. What stands out from Madden’s is its scale and its use of colour, two things strongly to the fore in her show of new work, opening next month at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin.