Robert Henri (1865-1929) was an American painter and teacher. Henri made several trips to Ireland's western coast and rented Corrymore House near Dooagh, on Achill Island, in 1913.
Every spring and summer for the following years he would paint the children of Dooagh. Henri's portraits of children, seen today as the most sentimental aspect of his body of work, were popular at the time and sold well. Henri came to Achill on a regular basis in the early decades of the 20th century. He bought Corrymore House on the hill above Dooagh in 1924. Once on Achill Island, Henri continued to paint landscapes, but portraits of the local villagers occupied most of his time “The Irish children fascinate me,” Henri said later. “I have always been interested in the Irish anyhow; I have always felt the poet in the Irishman.” Only Henri’s death in 1929 ended his extended love affair with the Irish.