Famous names in frame for shows at National Galleries

SCOTLAND’S National Galleries have unveiled a series of blockbuster shows for next year, including exhibitions featuring Picasso and illustrious painter John Bellany.

The exhibitions – featuring some of the most recognisable names in art, including Van Gogh – aim to attract visitors to the 2012 London Olympics north of the Border, with the largest-ever Picasso show in Scotland at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, as well as a show of more than 70 works in a major exhibition about landscape painting from Van Gogh to Kandinsky.

John Bellany: A Passion for Life will be staged at the Scottish National Gallery from November 17 next year to January 27 2013, and will be the most comprehensive exhibition of his work since 1986.

The exhibition will chart his career and life, including his days in Port Seton.

Mr Bellany, who will be 70 next year, said: “Ever since I was a child, I dreamt of having an exhibition at the National Gallery on Princes Street.”