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Irish Examiner
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Lucian Freud and me: The real 'Donegal Man' on his encounters with the great artist
Pat Doherty has the distinction of having sat for three portraits – two paintings and a copperplate etching – by the legendary British painter Lucian Freud. Several copies of the etching feature in the exhibition, Lucian Freud's Etchings: A Creative Collaboration, which has just launched at Titanic Belfast in partnership with the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Doherty became acquainted with Freud through a mutual friend, Andrew Parker Bowles, whom Doherty has known since the early 1970s, when he began doing building work for a development company that Parker Bowles ran with his brother-in-law, Nick Paravicini, and the architect Michael Heber-Percy. 'We did that for three years,' says Doherty, 'and then I went into partnership with them. They had the money, and I had the building experience. We were a good team.' Doherty and Parker Bowles could hardly have come from more disparate backgrounds. Doherty is one of a family of ten. He left school at 14 and served his apprenticeship with an uncle in Donegal before emigrating to London, aged 19, in 1962. 'I started doing contract work a few years later,' he says. 'Brickwork and carpentry. I knew guys coming out who were good carpenters, good bricklayers. They'd all done apprenticeships, I knew they could do good work. We soon had 30 guys on the books, and we kept building up from there.' Lucian Freud's painting of Andrew Parker Bowles, 'The Brigadier', at Christie's New York in 2015, where it sold for $34.89m. (Photo by) Parker Bowles, by contrast, was born in Donnington Castle House in Berkshire. His godparents included the Queen Mother and his grandfather, the millionaire racehorse owner Sir Humphrey de Trafford. He attended Ampleforth College and Sandhurst Military Academy, rode in the Grand National and played on Prince Charles' polo team. In 1973, Doherty attended Parker Bowles' wedding to Camilla Shand, who, after their divorce in 1995, went on to marry Prince Charles. She is now the Queen of the United Kingdom. Parker Bowles agreed to sit for a portrait by Freud in the early 2000s. Parker Bowles was a career army officer as well as a developer, and Freud chose to paint him in his full regalia as The Brigadier. The portrait took months of sittings, and Doherty unwittingly became a witness to its execution. 'I could walk from my house to Lucian's studio in two and a half minutes, it was just around the corner,' he says. 'I'd go round to pick Andrew up after a sitting, and we'd go out to dinner. I did that three or four times before Andrew said, come on, I'll introduce you to Lucian. So we went in, had a glass of champagne and a chat. And then, every time I'd call to pick up Andrew, we'd chat with Lucian some more. Pat Doherty, chairman of Titanic Belfast, features in several works by Freud. Picture courtesy of Titanic Belfast 'One evening Andrew said to me, 'Lucian said would you sit for him'. And my reply to that was, 'Fuck off, would you?' Sitting for an artist, I had no interest in that. But Andrew kept on about it. "He said, look, it's such an honour to be asked by this man. You'll regret it, you know. And I said, Andrew, I certainly will not regret it. But he kept on, and I thought, Christ, okay.' Doherty admits he did not quite realise what he was letting himself in for. 'In my head I thought it would just take two or three sittings,' he says. 'But the first time I sat for a portrait, it took 85 three-hour sittings, I think it was. And then he asked me to sit again, to do an etching, which took about 35 sittings. And then another painting, which took nearly 100 sittings. So I sat in front of him three times. He asked would I sit again, but I said no. I'd had enough of it.' In all, Doherty spent at least 600 hours sitting for Freud. 'He was a very temperamental man, but very talented. You didn't get on the wrong side of him; you'd know when to chat and when not to. I remember when it started, at first, you know, everything he was doing, I was watching. He'd be walking around you, looking you over. I realised, he's trying to get into my head, and I'm trying to get into his. But that was never going to work, you know. That was just a daydream. So I let him get on with it.' German-born British painter Lucian Freud. (Photo by) Freud famously did not flatter his subjects, and he certainly did Doherty no favours; the paintings present him as ruddy-faced and jowly, and the etching is less forgiving again. Asked what he thought of them, Doherty chuckles: 'The first time I saw the etching, I said, Lucian, if someone paid you money and came in to collect that, I think they'd die. 'But we stayed friends, you know. For years afterwards, we'd go out once a week for dinner at the Wolesley.' There was no expectation that Doherty would buy any of the portraits, but, knowing how revered a figure Freud had become, he did eventually, paying £2.3 million for the two paintings and a copy of the etching. In 2023, he sold one of the paintings, Profile, Donegal Man, at auction for £15 million. 'That's a good return, I thought at the time. But in hindsight, I wish I hadn't sold it. The other one I kept, that's on loan now to the National Gallery in Dublin.' Doherty was at Freud's house, along with Parker Bowles and the artist's studio assistant David Dawson, on the night of his passing in 2011. 'Lucian was unconscious,' he says. 'Andrew, David and I went out for dinner at Sally Clarke's, the restaurant next door. And then one of the girls came in and said he'd gone. 'Lucian was complicated, a complicated man, but I'd glad to have known him all the same.' Doherty has business interests all over the world, and is invariably cited as one of Ireland's most successful property developers. Asked what his greatest achievement has been, he says with a twinkle, 'surviving". He still lives in London, and is grateful for the opportunities the city has given him. 'I love Donegal,' he says. 'I'm from Donegal. I've got a house there, and I visit regularly. But I grew up in London. When people ask if I'll retire to Donegal, I say no, I don't see that.' He laughs suddenly. 'But I'll be buried there,' he says. Lucian Freud's Etchings: A Creative Collaboration runs at Titanic Belfast until September 30. Further information: David Dawson David Dawson still describes himself as a "farmboy', despite having worked as Freud's studio assistant in London for the last 20 years of his life. Dawson grew up in rural Welshpool, in Wales. He studied painting at the Royal College of Art in London, and had just graduated when he was introduced to Freud's art dealer, James Kirkman. Kirkman in turn introduced him to Freud, who was increasingly busy in his career and needed help in his studio. 'I was a sort of run-around boy, really,' says Dawson. 'I'd buy the paint and prime the canvases, that kind of thing. Lucian and myself got on immediately. I happened to live in Notting Hill, close to his home, so he just phoned me every day from then on. He'd say, can you do this, can you do that? And it just developed from there.' At that stage, Freud was 69. He was well-established as a figurative painter, and had settled into a routine of painting portraits in the two-roomed studio upstairs in his home at 138 Kensington Church Street. David Dawson with Lucian Freud's painting of Pat Doherty at the recreation of the painter's studio at Titanic Belfast. A degenerate gambler in his day, reputed to have lost millions betting on the horses, Freud had more or less quit by then. Dawson insists he drank in moderation, and only smoked the odd cigar. Freud was a notorious womaniser - he acknowledged 14 children, and may have fathered as many as 40 – but Dawson is discreet about his relationships. 'Lucian had many close friends,' he says. 'They all meant something to him. He chose who he wanted to get really close to, and others he kept out.' Freud was also notorious for the commitment he required of his models, who could expect to spend hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of hours sitting for his portraits. It suited some better than others. Among those he painted often were the benefits supervisor 'Big Sue' Tilley and the performance artist Leigh Bowery. 'The first painting I saw when I visited his studio was a big portrait he did of Leigh,' says Dawson. 'That was halfway done. It was a really important moment in my life, a pivotal moment, to see that being made. At that stage, Lucian was just beginning to really stretch into what people now call his mature phase. He really went for it in the last 20 years of his life. 'He always worked very hard. The sitter would arrive at eight in the morning. I'd be there before them. I'd have set up the studio, with the right canvas, the right placing of the bed or whatever. Lucian would work on that painting till lunchtime, then he'd rest for the afternoon, and go back painting in the evening. He'd do that every day, seven days a week.' Over the course of his twenty years with Freud, Dawson produced a series of photographs of the artist and his subjects at work. It began when Freud was painting his fellow artist, David Hockney. 'Lucian had just finished the portrait, and he'd gone out to take a phone call. I wanted to take a little photo of David with the portrait, but as I pressed the button on my camera, Lucian walked back in through the door. And because it was film, I didn't know what I'd got until I had it developed. But I showed it to Lucian and he thought it was fantastic. So after that, I would have my little point-and-shoot camera, and I'd take photos when I could.' Over several months in 2000/1, Freud painted Queen Elizabeth II. It was intended that she would sit for the portrait in his studio, but when the press got wind of the arrangement, they had to meet instead at St James's Palace. Dawson was present for the sessions, and took several photographs. 'I did ask Her Majesty,' he says. 'And she said, 'yes, I think it's quite a historic moment.' So I took four photographs. The first one's blurred because I was so nervous, but then there are two good ones of the Queen, and the last is after she's gone; there's just the painting and the empty chair.' Titanic Belfast's CEO Judith Owens and conservator Sean Madden unbox 'Donegal Man', an etching by Lucian Freud of Titanic Belfast's chairman Pat Doherty. Picture by Jonathan Porter Freud's portrait of the queen was arguably the most controversial of his career. Robin Simon, the editor of the British Art Journal, said 'it makes her look like one of her corgis who has suffered a stroke.' The Sun thought Freud should be locked up in the Tower for his impertinence. What did Dawson make of it? 'I like it because it's so small,' he says. 'It's one of the great things that Lucian could do, is make a very small painting very powerful. Not many artists can do that. And I think it's a true portrait of a woman in a unique position of being a monarch, a head of state.' Did Her Majesty express an opinion of the painting? 'Absolutely not!' Freud also painted the supermodel Kate Moss, and Dawson photographed the two in bed towards the end of the artist's life. 'That was a lovely moment,' he says. 'Lucian wasn't feeling too good, so Kate just jumped in for a hug. It was very sweet. And I said, oh, can I take a photo?' Apart from painting, the only medium Freud liked to work in was etching. The master printer Mark Balakjian, with whom he collaborated, would prepare copper plates with a wax ground, which Freud would sketch into with an etching needle. 'Again, it was all from life,' says Dawson. 'And the etchings were always done after the oil painting. It could take months, but not quite as long as a painting. He knew the face of the person well by then, and the line would come more fluently.' On his death, aged 88, in 2011, Freud left Dawson his home. 'He had mentioned that he'd do so. There was a plan, but I never listened to it too strongly. It's a lovely house. Early Georgian. I did a total refurb. I put it back to how it looked before. I've kept Lucian's studio. It's still alive. And I have my own studio, separate.' Dawson also has charge of Freud's archives. 'Which means I've got control of the copyright,' he says. 'It's just me and the lawyer, so we can make decisions quickly and clearly. Bridgeman Art Library manage the archives, and I just say yes or no to requests. I know what feels right and what doesn't.' Freud sometimes fretted that his schedule left Dawson too little time to devote to his own painting. But Dawson has no regrets. 'I put Lucian's work first,' he says. 'I felt that what he was making was so extraordinary, I wanted to be around to see it made. I thought it was worth it. And I still hold to that.' Titanic Belfast Titanic Belfast opened in 2012, on the 100th anniversary of the launch of the RMS Titanic Titanic Belfast is the brainchild of Pat Doherty, from Buncrana, Co Donegal, who made his fortune as a property developer in London. The centre commemorates the history of the ill-fated liner, along with the maritime heritage of Belfast, and is the jewel in the crown of a 200-acre development on the site of the old Harland & Wolff shipyard, which Doherty bought with another Irish businessman, Dermot Desmond, in 2003. A general view of the Titanic Museum on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast. 'Pat is one of the great visionaries when it comes to regeneration and bringing heritage to life,' says Judith Owens, who has served as Chief Executive of Titanic Belfast since 2017, having previously been Director of Operations and Deputy CEO. Owens' family was involved with Harland & Wolff for generations. 'My grandfather worked in the shipyard, and my dad was general manager of the electrical division,' she says. 'So I grew up in the area, and many years ago, I actually owned one of the shipyard officer's houses. Most people around here have a connection to the shipyard, it was such a big part of industrial Belfast.' When Owens first got involved with the Titanic Belfast project, 'there were just four of us on staff,' she says. 'We now employ over 300. We'll have about 500,000 people coming through the doors between now and September, and we're averaging about 850,000 a year. "Obviously, we have the Titanic exhibition, but we have an art gallery and high-end conference and banqueting facilities as well. 'The whole idea with Titanic Belfast was that we were to be a catalyst to kick-start tourism, and particularly international tourism, after the Good Friday Agreement. We've certainly succeeded in that.'
Forbes
04-05-2025
- Forbes
Not Forgetting The Past, Belfast Cruise Port Now Welcomes The World
Belfast City Hall is a landmark building in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It may not be the first city that springs to mind when you think of a cruise , but guests visiting Belfast cruise port are in for a rich and rewarding experience. Many cruise visitors use Belfast as a gateway to the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland's famous natural wonder. While the scenic coastal route is stunning, the full excursion requires several hours of driving and a fair amount of walking. For those who prefer to stay closer to the ship, Belfast itself offers more than enough to fill a memorable day ashore. With its grand public buildings, dynamic arts scene, and a history that is both proud and painful, Northern Ireland's capital offers far more than meets the eye. Whether you're drawn to the story of the Titanic, intrigued by the legacy of The Troubles, or simply want to soak up the buzz of a city rapidly reinventing itself, Belfast delivers one of the most thought-provoking port days in the British Isles. While Belfast may not yet rival Europe's busiest cruise hubs, it's quickly gaining momentum as a port of call. According to Belfast Harbour, the city is set to welcome nearly 150 cruise ship visits in 2025, representing 31 different cruise lines. Ten ships are scheduled to call at Belfast for the first time, and Ambassador Cruise Line will begin eight roundtrip itineraries from the port. Belfast frequently appears on British Isles cruises but also serves as a compelling stopover on longer itineraries to and from Iceland, with departures from ports such as Southampton, Amsterdam, and beyond. One downside is the port's location, which sits several miles from both the Titanic Quarter and central Belfast. This means cruise visitors will need to rely on shuttle buses, taxis, or sightseeing tours to reach the city's main attractions. No visit to Belfast is complete without a stop at Titanic Belfast, the city's flagship attraction built on the very site where the ill-fated ocean liner was designed, constructed, and launched. Titanic Belfast is one of Northern Ireland's most popular attractions. This award-winning museum is housed in a striking, angular building that mirrors the scale and shape of Titanic's prow—an architectural landmark in its own right. Inside, nine immersive galleries guide visitors through Belfast's shipbuilding heritage, the grandeur of Titanic's interiors, and the events leading up to the disaster, as well as the legacy that followed. Rather than simply displaying information boards and artifacts in glass cases, the museum offers an immersive experience featuring interactive exhibits, digital reconstructions, and even an amusement park-style ride through a recreated shipyard. It's a powerful, often emotional experience that blends industrial ambition with personal tragedy. Despite the somber subject matter, cruise ship visitors shouldn't hesitate to make the museum a priority. In fact, the final galleries, which explore the Titanic's legacy and the maritime safety improvements that followed, offer a valuable sense of perspective and progress. Cruise visitors should allow at least two hours to explore the museum, and ideally extra time to visit the adjacent SS Nomadic, a restored White Star Line tender ship included in the admission price. At the heart of this is 'The Troubles'—a decades-long conflict that, from the late 1960s to the late 1990s, brought violence and deep division to Northern Ireland, and beyond. The conflict was rooted in political and national identity, primarily between two communities: unionists, mostly Protestant, who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, and nationalists, mostly Catholic, who sought reunification with the Republic of Ireland. Sightseeing bus tours of Belfast include the 'peace walls' and detailed commentary about the conflict known as 'The Troubles'. More than 3,500 people lost their lives in a conflict that touched nearly every part of life in Belfast. While peace has largely held since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the legacy of The Troubles remains visible and deeply personal. For visitors, understanding this context in advance helps make sense of the powerful stories found in its streets and public spaces. Hop-on, hop-off sightseeing buses are often easy to dismiss as overpriced or inefficient, especially in compact cities. But in Belfast, they're genuinely worth considering, particularly for first-time visitors with limited time ashore. The routes offer more than just a quick overview of the city's landmarks; they provide crucial context for Belfast's complex political and cultural history. Tours include guided narration that explains the legacy of 'The Troubles', taking visitors through the city's most divided neighborhoods. The drive along the Falls Road and Shankill Road reveals a living history of murals, memorial gardens, and peace walls; sites that are powerful, sobering, and deeply informative. It's an experience that's hard to replicate on foot without local insight. The tours also include stops at key attractions like Titanic Belfast, Belfast City Hall, and Crumlin Road Gaol, making them a convenient way to get around while learning about the city's layered identity. Keep in mind that several companies operate sightseeing tours in Belfast, and tickets are not always interchangeable. It's worth checking the route and schedules carefully before buying. In central Belfast, grand public buildings like Belfast City Hall showcase the city's Victorian confidence and are well worth a closer look. Belfast City Hall is a striking landmark in central Belfast. Nearby, the Linen Quarter and Cathedral Quarter are buzzing with cafes, street art, and pubs, blending the old and new, and British and Irish culture, with surprising ease. For those interested in history and architecture, Crumlin Road Gaol offers a guided tour through a former Victorian prison that operated for over 150 years. Alternatively, the Queen's University grounds, Ulster Museum and adjoining Botanic Gardens provide a quieter, more reflective experience and are easily reached from the city center. If time allows, simply walking the streets of central Belfast reveals the city's many contrasts, from regeneration to remembrance, and a creative spirit that continues to define this evolving capital.
Forbes
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Titanic Belfast Is A Must-See, Even For Cruise Ship Visitors
Titanic Belfast is a monument to the city's maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland and Wolff shipyard. When sailing into the port city of Belfast, a visit to a museum chronicling the greatest-ever shipping disaster may not be top of every cruise traveler's sightseeing list. But Titanic Belfast, a striking architectural landmark built on the very slipways where the doomed ocean liner was constructed, delivers a powerful and immersive experience that lingers long after disembarkation. Despite its somber subject matter, Titanic Belfast is a must-see attraction for anyone visiting the city, including those arriving on cruise ships. Since opening in 2012 to mark the centenary of the disaster, the museum has welcomed millions of visitors. In 2024 alone, more than 800,000 people experienced its powerful exhibits, confirming its status as one of Northern Ireland's most popular and impactful cultural destinations. Inside the striking building, the museum unfolds across nine interactive galleries, guiding visitors through Belfast's shipbuilding boom, the design and construction of Titanic, and the human stories behind the tragedy. The exhibition covers the Titanic disaster, but also transatlantic maritime history, shipbuilding, personal stories, the onboard experience, and the legacy. Far from being a static exhibit, the experience blends historic artifacts, immersive multimedia, and even an amusement park-style ride through a recreated shipyard. The ride powerfully evokes the harsh realities of shipyard life in early 20th-century Belfast, plunging visitors into the sights, sounds, and scale of Titanic's construction. Sparks fly and rivets clang, while narration highlights the intense physical demands faced by the workers who built what was then the largest moving object in the world. It's an unexpected highlight that roots the Titanic story firmly in Belfast's industrial past and the human effort behind the ship's creation. While there is an option to bypass the line and continue exploring the galleries, the short wait is worth it. The ride is gentle, engaging, and suitable for all ages. From there, the museum shifts focus to Titanic's opulent interiors, the lives of its passengers, and the events leading up to the ship's ill-fated voyage. The opulent interiors of 'Titanic' are recreated inside the Belfast museum. A standout feature is the large surround-style video space, where visitors step inside to experience a virtual tour of the ship's lavish decks, from first-class staterooms to the grand staircase. Each gallery builds emotional weight, culminating in a sombre yet respectful exploration of the sinking and the global response that followed. One of the most poignant sections covers the ship's final hours and aftermath. The survivor testimonies are a tough but necessary listen, while a haunting floor projection shows the wreck's current location deep in the North Atlantic. It's a moving tribute that never veers into sensationalism, striking a careful balance between education and emotion. Nevertheless, tears are to be expected. Visitors then move on to the legacy of the disaster, something sure to resonate with today's cruise ship guests. The final galleries explore how Titanic reshaped maritime safety forever, prompting new international regulations that still underpin the cruise industry today. Improvements to ship design and safety following the Titanic disaster come into focus at Titanic Belfast. Everything from lifeboat drills to hull design can trace its roots back to the hard lessons learned from Titanic's fate. If emotions aren't too high, it's worth taking a short walk over to SS Nomadic, moored just outside the main museum building. Often overlooked by visitors in a rush, this beautifully restored vessel offers an intimate extension of the Titanic story. Launched in 1911, Nomadic was built as a tender ship to ferry first- and second-class passengers to and from the RMS Titanic and her sister ship, the Olympic, in ports where the liners were too large to dock. She is the last remaining White Star Line vessel in existence, and stepping aboard offers a rare chance to physically connect with the era. Though far smaller than Titanic, the ship's interiors were designed to match the same level of opulence, complete with ornate woodwork, period fixtures, and original features. The 'Nomadic' served as a tender vessel for 'Titanic' and is the last remaining White Star vessel in the world. The onboard exhibition details her role during both World Wars and later years in France, before her rescue and painstaking restoration. For cruise passengers calling at Belfast, a visit to Titanic Belfast is highly worthwhile. The museum is located in the Titanic Quarter, several miles from the main cruise terminal. While some cruise lines offer organized shore excursions that include admission and transport, many visitors opt to explore independently. It's important to note that cruise shuttle buses typically do not stop at Titanic Belfast. Instead, they drop passengers in central Belfast, about a 25-minute walk from the museum. Taxis are readily available at the port and offer a quick and convenient option. Alternatively, the city's hop-on-hop-off sightseeing buses include Titanic Belfast as a stop and can be a good way to see more of the area. At the time of writing, admission costs £25 ($33) when booking a fixed entrance time slot in advance, and £35 ($46) for an advance anytime ticket. Optional add-ons include a self-guided audio tour (recommended), a souvenir guidebook, or a small group guided tour. Visitors usually spend around two hours exploring the museum, though it's worth allowing extra time to visit the SS Nomadic. Admission is included in all ticket types. Fully accessible and equipped with two cafes and a gift shop, Titanic Belfast makes for a meaningful and manageable addition to any cruise itinerary, even for those with just a few hours ashore.
BreakingNews.ie
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BreakingNews.ie
Free exhibition of 60 Lucian Freud sketches opens at Titanic Belfast
A free exhibition of dozens of sketches by the British painter Lucian Freud opens at Titanic Belfast on Friday. More than 60 of the artist's etchings will be on view, with a new immersive experience, from May until the end of September. Advertisement The exhibition, held in collaboration with the V&A, charts Freud's development from his early explorations to his later mastery of flesh and form through line. (left to right) Curator of the V&A's Lucian Freud's Etchings exhibition, Gill Saunders, chief executive of Titanic Belfast, Judith Owens, and Freud's former studio assistant David Dawson (Liam McBurney/PA) Artwork will include Bella in Her Pluto T-Shirt; Self-portrait: Reflection; and Donegal Man – which has a special connection to Titanic Belfast as the sitter was Pat Doherty, the visitor attraction's chairman. People can get further insights into Freud through the interactive listening pods where key figures who knew him well describe his habits, his relationships and the uncompromising vision that shaped his legacy. The exhibition will also include a recreation of his Kensington studio, offering a glimpse into the space where he worked, which in itself became a living artwork. Advertisement Judith Owens, chief executive of Titanic Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) Chief executive of Titanic Belfast, Judith Owens, said they were 'delighted' to open the exhibition. 'This stunning exhibition and immersive experience gives people the unique opportunity to view unseen work from one of the foremost British artists of the 20th century, and to become fully immersed in finding out more about this fascinating man and the stories behind his creative process and collaborations.' Lucian Freud's Etchings: A Creative Collaboration exhibition, runs from May 2 until September 30 in the Andrews Gallery on Level 2 of Titanic Belfast.
New York Times
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
So You Think You Know a Lot About the Titanic …
Parents often look down at the whorl on the top of their children's heads and wonder what, exactly, is going on inside. An industry of books, video games, films, merchandise and museums offers some insight: They're probably thinking about the Titanic. Last fall, Osiris, age 5, told his mother, Tara Smyth, that he wanted to eat the Titanic for dinner. So she prepared a platter of baked potatoes — each with four hot-dog funnels, or smokestacks — sitting on a sea of baked beans. (He found it delicious.) Since first hearing the story of the Titanic, Ozzy, as he's known, has amassed a raft of factoids, a Titanic snow globe from the Titanic Belfast museum and many ship models at his home in Hastings, England. About 5,500 miles away in Los Angeles, Mia and Laila, 15-year-old twins, devote hours every week to playing Escape Titanic on Roblox. They have been doing this for the last several years. Sometimes, they go down with the ship on purpose — 'life is boring,' explained Mia, 'and the appeal is that it's kind of dramatic.' Nearly 113 years after the doomed White Star Line steamship collided with an iceberg on April 14, 1912, and sank at around 2:20 a.m. the next day, it remains a source of fascination for many children. The children The New York Times spoke to did not flinch at the mortal fact at the heart of the story: That of the more than 2,200 passengers on the Titanic, more than twice as many passengers died as those who survived. 'I really like whenever it just cracked open in half and then sank and then just fell apart into the Atlantic Ocean,' said Matheson, 10, from Spring, Texas, who has loved the story since he read 'I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912' at age 5. After many frustrating bath time re-enactments involving flimsy ship models, Matheson and his father, Christopher Multop, designed a Tubtastic Titanic bath toy — of which they say they now sell about 200 a month (separate floating iceberg included). But why? The Titanic presents a perfect fact pile for children as they grapple with big concepts like death, said Debbie Sorensen, a clinical psychologist with a Ph.D. in development psychology. The more children learn about the ship, the more there is to investigate. Such hyper-focus on historical events like the Titanic is common among neurodivergent and neurotypical children alike, Dr. Sorensen said. What presents as morbid curiosity to death-averse adults can provide a sense of transcendence for a young mind, she added. 'Picturing those people who died, picturing the ship cracking and falling down to the bottom of the ocean, it taps into a sense of awe,' she said. (For the same reason, Sept. 11, tsunamis and other large-scale disasters often become a topic of interest for children, she said.) Ana Sofia Ribeiro, a research fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, has studied resilience to natural disasters and eco-anxiety in children. Compared with these, the Titanic is 'a disaster that you get to play with,' she said, a romantic fantasy within which children can explore death at a distance. Stephen Shore, Ed.D., an associate clinical professor of special education at Adelphi University, said encyclopedic knowledge of a topic defined what was referred to as a 'special interest area' for autistic or neurodivergent children. Subjects with a deep well of facts to learn — like the one provided by the Titanic — provide 'a sense of order to a fairly unpredictable social world for autistic and otherwise neurodivergent individuals.' An unsinkable interest Titanic kids — and often by extension, their parents — know all about the sister ships, the R.M.S. Olympic and the H.M.H.S. Britannic; the rescue of the surviving passengers by the R.M.S. Carpathia; and the classes of passengers (first, second and third). They know which of the four funnels was merely decorative (the ship had only three main engines) and the temperature of the water the ship sank into (about 28 degrees Fahrenheit). They are also quick to explain the reasons the ship met its end. 'Where do you want me to start — 11:40 or … ?' asked Ryley, 12, in Los Angeles, who has memorized the events post-collision (which occurred around 11:40 p.m.), and pointed out the structural flaws in the rivets. He can also speak on the reported tiff between radio operators on the S.S. Californian and the Titanic. In Manhattan, Charlotte, 13, who built a nearly 10,000-piece Titanic Lego set by herself over six months, flagged a lack of binoculars among the lookouts, as well as the hard turn that caused a larger gash to the ship's starboard hull that may have resulted from hitting the iceberg head-on, she said. Back in Spring, Matheson knows the exact position of the 20 lifeboats on the Titanic — far too few to service the people aboard. And sometimes, of course, dressing up is the best means of obsession expression: Lucas, a 13-year-old in Pittsburgh, recently dressed as the ship's captain, Edward Smith, for his school's career day. Eleven-year-old Ned in Sydney, Australia, loves the Titanic so much that he dressed as the sinking ship for his school's book week parade in 2022. John Zaller, the executive producer of Exhibition Hub, the company that designed 'Bodies: The Exhibition' and 'Titanic: An Immersive Voyage,' a traveling exhibition with interactive elements, attested that Titanic kids often knew more than their tour guides. At the Titanic experience, children can sit in a lifeboat and watch a simulation of the ship sinking, see a life-size model of the boiler room be flooded with water, and follow along with the passengers on their boarding pass, ultimately finding out whether they survived the wreck. 'The biggest takeaway for kids is, 'I lived!' or 'I died!'' Mr. Zaller said. 'They understand the power of that.' Madeline Donahue, an artist based in Brooklyn, has two children, now 6 and 8, who became obsessed with the disaster after finding a book about it on a shelf in their house. A rendering of the Titanic toy ever-present in her house looms in two of her paintings, representing 'the awareness of death' she has as a mother and the knowledge that parents do not control fate. 'We can think about this tragedy in a way that, first of all, has been commercialized, and, second of all, references an age of playfulness,' she said, adding that she does not shy away from discussing death with her children. The work of children is to comprehend a world that existed long before them, as Dr. Sorensen explained, and the Titanic allows them something to clamber aboard as they sort the facts from myth, the real funnels from the fake. As Titanic kids move on to, or zigzag between, other things — like 'Hamilton' or the Roman Empire — there is always someone just setting out on the journey. In St. Louis, Mo., Titanic enthusiast Teddy, age 5, wanted to tell me all about the ship, but first, said he had something to share, even if I couldn't see it over the phone: 'Wait, let me get my iceberg!'
