National gallery announces new dates for first international exhibition post-coronavirus

Works from Botticelli to Van Gogh will make their way to the National Gallery of Australia from London for the March 2021 exhibition, pushed back from the planned November opening.

National Gallery of Australia Director Nick Mitzevich said the exhibition was a "once in a generation" opportunity to see historic artwork.

Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London is the largest group of works to ever travel outside the UK in its National Gallery's almost 200-hundred year history.

"These works have rarely left London. They've only left London because the National Gallery is being renovated," he said.

"Van Gogh's Sunflowers 1888 is one of the world's most popular and widely recognised works of modern art."

"Sunflowers has only been lent outside the British capital on two occasions since its acquisition by the National Gallery, London, in 1924 and now audiences will be able to see it in Canberra."

As Canberra's tourism industry has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Mitzevich said the gallery would be on the front foot in reigniting the capital as a cultural destian

"This is going to be a major injection into the Canberra cultural and tourism calendar," he said.

The exhibition will open in Canberra on March 5 and include works from 57 revered European artists spanning 500 years and is expected to aid a return to tourism in Canberra.

Presented in partnership with the National Gallery, London, and Art Exhibitions Australia, the exhibition features 60 paintings by artists including Botticelli, Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer, El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, Turner, Constable, Van Dyke, Gainsborough, Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh.

The exhibition will be on display from 5 March to June 14. Tickets go on sale December 1. Pre-sale tickets for NGA Members will be released mid-November 2020.

Timed ticketing will be introduced to allow for any coronavirus restrictions that may be in place, Mr Mitzevich said.

"We just going to do our best to work around the limitations coronavirus poses but at all times making sure our people managing these works will be safe," he said.