Picasso and Matisse works coming to Doncaster art gallery in British Museum 'touring exhibition' this year

Pictures by artists including Picasso and Matisse will be hung at the new Danum Gallery, Library and Museum after it has opened, according to officials at Doncaster Council.

Assistant manager (art, exhibitions and outreach) for Heritage Doncaster, Neil McGregor, revealed there were plans for an exhibition in partnership with British Museum, which would feature works by Picasso and Matisse.

No official announcement has been made by the council on the exhibition, and it is due in Doncaster after it has been shown in the Irish capital city of Dublin at the National Gallery of Ireland.

The exhibition, which the British Museum lists as running from July to October, is the touring Living with Art: Picasso to Celmins exhibition.

The exhibition showcases works from the wide-ranging collection of Alexander Walker (1930–2003), a prolific collector of modern and contemporary prints and drawings.

A spokesman for the British Museum said: “He bought works of art for pleasure rather than financial gain and generously left his collection of over 200 works on paper to the British Museum when he died.

“This is the first exhibition in over 10 years to showcase the art through the lens of his collection.

“The exhibition will include 30 prints and drawings by artists ranging from Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse to Lucian Freud, Bridget Riley, David Hockney and Vija Celmins.

“It will demonstrate Walker's interest in artists' working methods and in transitional pieces that show an artist developing a new style or subject, or experimenting with a new technique.”

It is the first time details have emerged about plans for the special exhibition room at the gallery, which was part of the design and created to have the high security features required for touring exhibitions.

The exhibition room has a hefty, industrial-looking steel lock, in a door which has a narrow slit as a window, surrounded by steel bolts.

The Free Press was given a preview tour of the building earlier this month, and it is expected to open next month. No date has been confirmed yet.

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