Patrick Graham and Cathy Wilkes win first Francis Bacon Awards
Patrick Graham and Cathy Wilkes have won the inaugural Francis Bacon Awards for Irish Visual Arts.
Graham takes the Francis Bacon Lifetime Achievement Award. Wilkes, a Northern Irish artist, takes the Francis Bacon Mid-Career Artist Award, ARTnews reported on 19 October. Two artists. Two categories. One new prize.
The money is clear. The total fund is €40,000 ($44,800). Graham will receive €25,000. Wilkes will receive €15,000.
That split tells its own story. A lifetime award honours work built over decades. A mid-career award backs an artist in full flow. The larger sum sits with the longer career.
The awards will be presented during Dublin Gallery Weekend 2026. The weekend runs from 5 to 8 November. Galleries across the city open their doors together for those four days. It is a busy moment to launch something new.
The programme is supported by Château La Coste and the law firm Addleshaw Goddard. Château La Coste is the arts site in Provence, France, that joins the firm as backer. New prizes need that kind of support. Money pays the winners. Partners pay for everything around them.
Both winners have also been invited to stage solo exhibitions at Château La Coste in Provence. A solo exhibition means one artist showing alone, across a gallery space. For anyone travelling to see them, it is a chance to spend time with each body of work away from the noise of an awards week.
There is a public event in Dublin too. The Talk Art podcast, hosted by Robert Diament and Russell Tovey, will record live from the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin on 7 November with Patrick Graham. A live recording puts the conversation in front of an audience. People can watch the interview as it is made.
What makes this stand out is the shape of the prize. Many new awards start with a single winner. Here the organisers have named two artists at different points in their careers from the outset. It gives Dublin audiences someone to celebrate and Provence audiences something to look forward to.
