The collaboration with New York’s MoMA will feature works by Dalí, Picasso, Lichtenstein, van Gough and more.

The National Gallery of Victoria has announced an exclusive partnership with New York’s famous Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) that will see a collection of the world’s most iconic and valuable modern masterpieces exhibited at the Melbourne gallery in June 2018. The NGV will be the sole international venue for the collection.

The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dalí

Among the extraordinary list of artists to be showcased are Salvador Dalí, Paul Cézanne, Marcel Duchamp, Edward Hopper, Jeff Koons, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Roy Lichtenstein and Vincent van Gough. The collection traverses a range of mediums including paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, furniture, design objects and architecture, spanning over 130 years of radical artistic creativity and innovation.  

Portrait of Joseph Roulin, Vincent Van Gough

Over 150 masterworks will be featured, including many which have never been exhibited in Australia before. It will be the flagship offering of the NGV’s Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series, which for the first time will occupy the entire ground floor of the gallery.

Seated Bather, Pablo Picasso

The Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, shared his delighted at the announcement. “Picasso, van Gough and Matisse: only in Melbourne will you see this roll call of history’s most iconic art figures,” he said. “MoMA is one the most prestigious modern art galleries in the world, and its partnership with the NGV is testament to Victoria’s reputation as an international and cultural destination.”

No 3./No. 13, Mark Rothko

The exhibition is newsworthy for its iconic list of artists alone, but Tony Elwood, Director of the NGV, said the collection also offers an unparalleled opportunity to capture the development of the most important artistic movements of the past century. “Our visitors will be able to experience first-hand the momentous change and creativity in the development of modern art, and consequently appreciate contemporary art and design with greater understanding,” he explained.

Masterworks from MoMA is presented by NGV, June 8 – October 7 2018