A major exhibition of works by one of the most important and influential landscape painters of his generation, Fermanagh born T.P. Flanagan (1929 to 2011) is to be held at Bonhams Dublin office at Molesworth Street in Dublin from March 3 to 20, 2015.

Under the title, Across a Roaring Hill: An exhibition of works by T.P. Flanagan, the exhibition will present many previously unseen works from the long and distinguished career of the artist, one of Ireland’s most respected painters, who passed away at the age of 81.

T.P. Flanagan was born in Enniskillen, though he spent much of his childhood in Sligo.

He attended St. Michael’s Presentation Brothers’ Grammar School and Enniskillen Technical College, and was introduced to the art of watercolour painting in his late teens by the Irish portrait and landscape painter, Kathleen Bridle.

T.P. went on to study at the Belfast College of Art from 1949 to 1953. He then taught at St. Mary’s College of Further Education, remaining there for 28 years and eventually becoming Head of the Art Department, until his retirement in 1983.

During a professional career which lasted nearly 60 years he earned a reputation as a consummate interpreter of the Irish landscape.

His work is prized for capturing not only the specific look of a place but also its enduring spirit.

Like the French Impressionist painter, Claude Monet, (1840 to 1926) he often produced a series of paintings of the same subject allowing him to explore it in different lights and weathers.

The Irish poet Seamus Heaney (1939 to 2013) was a close friend and shared Flanagan’s love of landscape. His Bogland: for T.P. Flanagan was inspired by the artist’s work.

The late Seamus Heaney - at a special reception held at the Arts Council in 2010 in honour of the artist’s lifetime contribution to the arts - paid this tribute: “TP Flanagan has been a uniquely accomplished and cherished presence in a generation of Irish artists who have secured an honoured place for themselves in the overall history of Irish art.” Next month’s exhibition of 70 works at Bonhams takes its title from the final line of a short poem by John Hewitt (1907 to 1987) - ‘across a roaring hill’.

Bonhams is publishing a catalogue to accompany the exhibition which will contain essays by leading academics in the field of Irish art.

“I am very excited by the prospect of showing T.P. Flanagan’s work,” says Jane Beattie, Bonhams representative in Ireland.

She adds: “I have been an admirer of his for many years and am looking forward to spending time with these wonderfully evocative paintings. I hope as many people as possible will take the opportunity to come along and share the experience.”