Duncan Macmillan: Programme would benefit from a greater Scottish slant

MY initial impression about the programme is that it not very Scottish, particularly when you take the John Bellany exhibition, and the forthcoming Samuel Peploe one, out of the equation.

There is an argument that they could be put together by any country. However it is obviously very welcome that they are recognising Bellany in this way to mark his 70th birthday.

It is a bit of a shame that the Picasso exhibition will have been in London before it comes to Edinburgh in August. It is not likely to generate the Galleries much media coverage when it will have had such a long run at the Tate and it does seem a bit second-hand. The timing is unfortunate, especially with the Edinburgh exhibition opening at the beginning of the Festival.

The other thing I noticed is that although there are 150 works in the exhibition, which looks at Picasso’s British connections, only 60 of these are actually by Picasso.

The Van Gogh to Kandinsky exhibition will be very good, although people might feel a bit short-changed by the title.

I think the Lusieri exhibition will be really interesting as there is such an interesting story about how he worked for Lord Elgin in Greece.

I’m not so sure about devoting the entire modern art gallery to sculptures, though, however it does seem to fit in with a growing strategy to show the Galleries’ collections in new ways.

• Duncan Macmillan is art critic at The Scotsman.