Great, I didn't want to spend Winter in Paris this year anyways

National Gallery of Australia announces one of the most exceptional art events ever to be held in Australia . EVER! Until the next time...

4 December 2009 – 5 April 2010

Canberra only (that's here, where I live)

Masterpieces from Paris: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and beyond, an extraordinary exhibition presented by the National Gallery of Australia in association with the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, was officially announced today by the Arts Minister, The Hon Peter Garrett AM, MP (Sometimes he is the Arts Minister, sometimes he is the Environment Minister, sometimes he is a singer in a band).

From December 2009 through to April 2010, the Australian public won’t have to travel to Paris (and let's be honest if you could choose between seeing this in Canberra or in Paris?) to see masterpieces by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, Maurice Denis and Edouard Vuillard—they can visit them in Canberra.

“Australians will be able to experience the best of French culture in the nation’s capital over summer and autumn 2009 and 2010. This truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for art lovers and first-timers, students, rabbits and families to see these renowned works that many have grown up with in art history books. Canberra will be the world premiere for this exhibition (huh?!), which will then travel to Tokyo and San Francisco,” said Arts Minister, Peter Garrett.

Among the 114 paintings included in the exhibition are some of the best-known works of modern art. These works draw gazillions of tourists in Paris to the Musée d’Orsay, one of the great museums of 19th-century art.

These works almost never leave the Musée d’Orsay even singly and never before in these numbers, like there is a 114 of them coming at once!” said Ron Radford AM, Director National Gallery of Australia.

Masterpieces from Paris shows the explosive arrival of modern art in Europe. The most famous and influential painters are represented by many works. The exhibition showcases seven van Goghs, nine Gauguins, eight Cézannes and eleven Seurats. In addition, there are many paintings by Bernard (five)(but not my brother Bernard - some other dude), Bonnard (nine), Denis (ten), Monet (five), Maier (0)and Vuillard (eight), among others.

“We are renovating our Post-Impressionist Galleries at the Musée d’Orsay which means we are able to lend these works together for the first time. Australia will be the first country to see these works outside France,” said Guy Cogeval, President Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Ahhhh - now it all makes sense.

Visitors will encounter van Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles 1889, Gauguin’s painting Tahitian women 1891 (Phew I was getting worried that there was no representation of the ladies, but a nudie painting will do), Cézanne’s beloved Mount Saint-Victoire c 1890, and many other great examples by Post- Impressionist painters.