What A Picture… The First Ever Colour Photographs Taken in Ireland

It’s long been said that a picture speaks a thousand words, but these images left us somewhat speechless.

These pictures, taken in 1913 by French women Marguerite Mespoulet and Madeleine Mignon-Alba, are believed to be the first ever colour photographs taken in Ireland – snapped using the at the time new and undoubtedly very high-tech autochrome colour plates. 

The women were travelling the Irish countryside through from the wilds of Connemara to the Boyne Valley, taking pictures for a worldwide project known as ‘The Archives of the Planet’, a project launched in 1909 by French banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn.

Over twenty years, Kahn sent a group of photographers to more than fifty countries around the world, amassing more than 72,000 images.

These incredible pictures are the result of the Irish assignment. To see much more of 1913 Ireland in all its colourful glory, check out the rest of these snaps on An t-Oileán here.