Irish artist Anne Madden dies aged 93

The painter Anne Madden has died at her home in Dublin. She was 93 years of age.

One of the leading Irish artists of the 20th century, she became known for her epic canvases inspired by the Burren in Co Clare and its megalithic monuments.

Born in London in 1932 to an Irish father and an Anglo-Chilean mother, Ms Madden spent her earliest years in Chile.

She grew to love the Co Clare landscape during stays there in her teens, but a horse-riding accident and subsequent spinal surgery left her with a legacy of back pain.

She married the painter Louis le Brocquy in 1958, and they moved to the south of France.

They had been advised that the climate there would be kinder to her spine.

Eventually they built a studio at Les Combes in the village of Carros and shared the working space there until they eventually settled in Dublin.

She was Influenced by the artistic possibilities opened up by the Abstract Expressionists in the United States and Europe.

Later works drew inspiration from the Roman city of Pompeii, her garden and surroundings in the south of France, and the Odyssey as well as other classical mythological subjects.

Ms Madden le Brocquy exhibited extensively throughout her career, with regular solo shows at Taylor Galleries Dublin, Foundation Maeght in France and widely throughout Ireland and internationally. There were retrospective exhibitions at IMMA, the RHA and elsewhere.

A vivacious personality, Anne Madden le Brocquy was a generous hostess and spirited conversationalist with a wide circle of friends in artistic, literary and political circles.

Fiercely independent by nature, she brushed aside any sexism she encountered and was widely admired for both her work and her intellect.

Louis died in 2012.

The couple were married for 54 years, have two sons, Pierre and Alexis.

The couple worked side by side, sharing studio spaces for many decades.