A masterpiece a month as the world’s finest galleries lend works to Dulwich

The world's top galleries are lending masterpieces by artists from Velazquez and Vermeer to Rembrandt and David Hockney to help the Dulwich Picture Gallery mark its 200th anniversary next year.

Treasures from institutions including the Prado in Madrid, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Uffizi in Florence and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will travel to south-east London with one piece on display for every month of the bicentenary celebrations.

The Royal Collection, the Royal Academy, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Frick Collection in New York are also among those lending works to what was the first purpose-built public art gallery in England.

Ian Dejardin, the gallery's director, said today: "We are proud and delighted to be able to announce our plans for this landmark birthday with the extraordinary support of the world's great museums and collections, our dedicated patrons and benefactors, and the community that we serve."

The month-long displays of treasures come on top of an exhibition programme that includes several firsts — and will be launched by The Big Bang, an open day for all visitors to the gallery on January 9 when entrance charges will be waived.

The Big Bang will also include family activities, falconry displays in the gallery's gardens and a concert given by Dulwich schoolchildren, culminating in a fireworks display.

Exhibitions during the year will include a show pairing the 82-year-old American Cy Twombly with the three-centuries-dead Nicolas Poussin, featuring works where Twombly was inspired by the Frenchman's compositions.

Another will be the first show staged in Britain of original works by the 20th century American painter Norman Rockwell, famous for his magazine-cover illustrations of everyday life.

The Art Fund has also given Dulwich its first permanent outdoor sculpture, Walking the Dog by Peter Randall-Page.

And the 6,000 Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery will get the chance to put their own works into an exhibition in the spring, to be judged by art
world experts.

The gallery also announced that Dr Xavier Bray is joining from the National Gallery as chief curator.

The core of the Dulwich's collections was put together in the 18th century by art dealers Noel Desenfans and Sir Francis Bourgeois and bequeathed for public exhibit upon the latter's death 200 years ago.

Sir John Soane designed the neo-classical building in which the pieces currently hang.