MELBOURNE.- Premier John Brumby announced a new blockbuster exhibition, "European Masters: Städel Museum 19th – 20th Centuries" will come to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in 2010 as part of the hugely successful Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series.

Mr Brumby said the exhibition comprises more than 100 works from the internationally renowned Städel Museum in Germany by artists including Monet, Cézanne and Renoir, and is the first time this collection of works will be displayed outside Europe.

“More than 170,000 people have already visited the current NGV Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series "Salvador Dali: Liquid Desire", and we expect the Städel exhibition will further position Victoria as an international centre for the arts and major events,” Mr Brumby said.

“The Städel exhibition is a major coup for the state and we expect it to draw interstate and international tourists alongside other attractions such as the Spring Racing Carnival and the Australian Open Tennis.

“The eight exhibitions in the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series have so far attracted more than 1.6 million visitors, and Victorians are reaping the benefits with an estimated $100 million injected into the Victorian economy.

“European Masters: Städel Museum 19th – 20th Centuries will be shown exclusively at the NGV and will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all Victorians and visitors to our state.”

Arts Minister Lynne Kosky said the Städel exhibition would take visitors through key artistic movements including Impressionism, Symbolism and Modernism.

“It brings together over 100 works from 70 artists and highlights the diversity of the Städel Museum with masterpieces by Degas, Picasso and Munch,” Ms. Kosky said.

“Victorians love their art and securing this exhibition will bring some of the world’s best pieces to Melbourne and attract new audiences to what I am sure will be another blockbuster in our major events calendar.”

NGV Director Dr. Gerard Vaughan said many of the masterpieces in the exhibition would be seen not only for the first time in Australia, but for the first time outside Germany.

“What is very special about this show is the opportunity for Australian audiences, perhaps for the first time, to engage with so many great and revolutionary examples of modern art in Germany,” Dr. Vaughan said.

“The exhibition also includes paintings and sculptures by Max Beckmann, Max Klinger, Pierre Bonnard, Auguste Rodin and other masterpieces of modern European art, especially German and French.”

European Masters: Städel Museum 19th – 20th Centuries will be on at the NGV International, St Kilda Road from June 19 until October 10, 2010.