Picasso and Bellany to compete for Scotland as Olympics near

The first exhibition devoted to one of Europe’s “great forgotten artists” and a celebration of 170 years of romantic photography in Scotland are also part of the programme, on which the National Galleries of Scotland is pinning its hopes to help the capital tackle fears that the number of visitors may be affected by the staging of the London Olympics next year.

Curators believe the Picasso exhibition – the first to explore his connections with Britain – has the potential to be the most successful ever hosted by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

The exhibition, featuring more than 60 of his works, will go on display at the start of next year’s Edinburgh Art Festival, after a run at the Tate Britain gallery in London, which is jointly curating the exhibition.

The Scottish National Gallery will be hosting the first major retrospective devoted to East Lothian artist John Bellany for 25 years.

Last night the artist, who has battled a number of health problems in recent years said the show, which will run from November 2012 to January 2013, would fulfil a lifelong dream of having an exhibition at the gallery on The Mound.

Galleries bosses have also joined forces with the Van Gogh Museum, in Amsterdam, and the Ateneum Art Museum, in Helsinki, for a joint exhibition of the great “symbolist” landscape painters, which will bring together works by Gauguin, Van Gogh, Munch and Kandinsky for the first time next summer.

However the third big festival exhibition will be devoted exclusively to 18th century Italian painter Giovanni Battista Lusieri, best known for being deployed as Lord Elgin’s resident artist in Athens, the bulk of which are being loaned to the Galleries from the latter’s family collection.

The entire Modern Art Gallery will be devoted to the work of sculptors, with pieces by Ron Mueck, Damien Hirst and Turner Prize nominees Martin Boyce and Karla Black all featuring in a show running from mid-December until June 2012.

Earlier that month the Scottish National Portrait Gallery will opens its doors after its multi-million pound restoration, with the Romantic Camera exhibition taking centre stage and showcasing the likes of photographic pioneers David Hill and Robert Adamson, as well as James Craig Annan, Oscar Marzaroli and Julia Margaret Cameron.

It is hoped Bellany, who has had a liver transplant and a heart attack, and has suffered from failing sight in recent years, will be able to attend a number of special events at the gallery during the exhibition’s two-month run.

Bellany said: “Ever since I was a child, I dreamt of having an exhibition at the National Gallery. It is a great honour for me and I am looking forward to the exhibition with great excitement.”

Galleries director John Leighton said his organisation had decided to put a “strong foot forward” next year to play its part in efforts to offer a strong alternative to the London Olympics, or appeal to overseas visitors to extend their trip to take in Scotland’s capital.

However he said the Galleries also wanted to demonstrate the strength of exhibition it was able to attract to Edinburgh, despite its budget being far inferior to equivalent organisations in places such as London and Paris.

His organisation has been hit with a funding freeze for the next year by the Scottish Government, which has refused to back a campaign to secure a second £50 million Titian painting for the nation.

Mr Leighton said: “There are definitely two schools of thought about 2012 and what impact the Olympics have, but I prefer to take the optimistic view of it.

“We have to ensure things don’t slip back and do things half-baked or half-hearted.”

Faith Liddell, director of the Festivals Edinburgh group, said: “Next year provides a unique opportunity for the festivals to be seen by a global audience as we celebrate both the Olympic Games in London and the Year of Creative Scotland.”