National Gallery: Famous Artworks go on Loan for First Time

For its 200th anniversary, the National Gallery will tour the country with some of its finest masterpieces. Twelve famous works of art, including Constable's The Hay Wain, Botticelli's Venus and Mars, and Renoir's The Umbrellas, tour the United Kingdom.

On May 10, 2024, 12 institutions will open concurrent exhibitions, putting more than half of the population within an hour of one of the masterpieces. Some of the paintings have never before been loaned by the gallery.

A blockbuster Van Gogh exhibition, the creation of a new digital gallery to make the collection accessible around the world, a UK road trip of art workshops, and a refurbishment of the National Gallery site in London's Trafalgar Square are all part of the £95 million bicentennial plans.

Jeremy Deller, the Turner Prize-winning artist, has been commissioned to create a work commemorating 200 years of public art. A "surprise" announcement about one of the National Gallery's most famous works, Van Gogh's Sunflowers, will also be made closer to the bicentennial.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said art is "for all of us to share, not just the privileged few".

"We've lost touch with that particular idea over the years, but it's something the National Gallery really understands and it's the central issue which guides me as culture secretary," she said. "I want everyone to have access to our world class art and culture, no matter who they are or where they came from."