AN eight month exhibition in Japan of mainly French 19th and 20th century paintings from the National Gallery's collection is expected to raise about £250,000.
It will go towards the £13 million extension of the gallery due for completion by the end of the decade.
The director of the gallery, Mr Raymond Keaveney, said the exhibition, to be held at five venues in Tokyo, Yamanashi and Osaka from next month, would also bring home to an international audience the range, quality and depth of its collection.
"It will enhance our image abroad," he added.
The works on show will be drawn from the Chester Beatty Gilt (1950), the Edward Martyn Bequest (1924) and the Maire MacNeill Bequest (1987) as well as works purchased by the gallery since the foundation of the collection in 1854.
"The exhibition will improve cultural links between our two countries," the Japanese Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Takanori Kazuhara, said at a press conference in the gallery yesterday.
"It will also be seen as a generous gesture by the Irish Government and people."
The curator of French paintings at the gallery, Ms Fionnuala Croke, who has compiled the exhibition catalogue, said the main focus would be on 70 works' painted in France between 1850 and 1930, as well as a selection of works by Irish impressionists.
The works on show will include Jules Breton, The Gleaners, Thomas Couture, The Pifferaro Player, Eva Gonzales, Two Children Playing on t«MDBO»h«MDNM»e Sand Dunes, Berthe Morisot, Le Corsage Noir, Sisley, Bords du Canal du Loing a St Mammes, Bonnard, Boy Eating Cherries, Picasso, Still Life with a Mandolin, Osborne, Apple Gathering, Quimperle and Henry Jones Thaddeus, The Wounded Poacher.
The exhibition is the gallery's second to be held in Japan in recent years. Three years ago, 53 old master paintings from its collection went on show in five Japanese cities. Next month's exhibition is being sponsored by the Mainichi newspaper group in Japan.
