Londoners will have to wait for the return of 60 masterpieces of the National Gallery even longer than planned.

“Sunflowers” \u200b\u200bby Vincent van Gogh are among the 60 paintings from the London National Gallery that ended up in the quarantined Tokyo National Museum of Western Art. They managed to bring them from the UK to Japan, hang them in museum halls and fully prepare the exhibition for the opening, which was scheduled for March 3. However, on February 29, the Tokyo Museum was forced to close due to a pandemic.

Sunflowers (1888) - one of the central exhibits of the exhibition From Botticelli to Van Gogh. Masterpieces from the London National Gallery ». Since the museum acquired the painting, almost a century ago, it traveled abroad only three times: to Paris in 1955 and to Amsterdam in 2002 and 2013..

The exhibition in Tokyo was supposed to end on June 14. Although museums in Japan are set to open gradually in June, major Tokyo venues are likely to return to work no earlier than the end of the month..

On May 29, the extension of the National Gallery's exhibition in Tokyo was announced until October 18. This, in turn, means the postponement of the dates of its next stop in Osaka (if earlier the exposition was planned for July 7 - October 18, now it will be held from November 3, 2020 to January 31, 2021).

After Osaka, the exhibition was to go to the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, where it was originally intended to be held from November 13, 2020 to March 14, 2021.. The Australian Museum has not yet announced its plans, but there is reason to expect that the exhibition will be delayed there from February to May 2021 (unless, of course, the exhibition is canceled, which is unlikely). This means that 60 paintings will not return to the walls of the National Gallery until June next year (the museum is now closed, but it is expected to open again this summer).

In the meantime, the British public can enjoy the view of " As a result of the pandemic, the demand for outdoor advertising fell sharply, and Ocean Outdoor provided several of its digital banners for the use of the National Gallery for two weeks. They show seven popular paintings from the museum’s collection - it is not surprising that among them were Sunflowers quarantined..

Meanwhile, the London Curto Gallery, closed for repairs until next spring, announced the cancellation of the last stage of the Japanese tour of the exhibition “Masterpieces of Impressionism. Curto Collection ». Among its key exhibits is Van Gogh's energetic landscape, Peach Trees in Bloom (1889).

Source: theartnewspaper.