Art Collector
Extolling the cause of Irish art abroad, Lane also became one of the foremost collectors and dealers of Impressionist paintings in Europe, and amongst those outstanding works purchased by him for the new gallery were La Musique aux Tuileries by Manet, Sur la Plage by Degas, Les Parapluies by Renoir and La Cheminée by Vuillard.
The Municipal Gallery of Modern Art opened in January 1908 in temporary premises in Harcourt Street, Dublin. Lane hoped that Dublin Corporation would run it, but the corporation was unsure if it would be financially viable. Lane did not live to see his gallery permanently located as he died in 1915 during the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, off the west coast of Cork, the county of his birth. The Gallery, extended in 2005, is now in Parnell Square in central Dublin.
For his "services to art" in Ireland, Lane was knighted in June 1909 at the comparatively young age of 33.
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