Arabic version: عرض «بلو بولز» في بيرث خلال أعمال المعرض الوطني الأسترالي

According to ABC News, the National Gallery of Australia will temporarily loan Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles to the Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth while capital works proceed at the Canberra institution. The painting is scheduled to be displayed between April and September next year.

NGA director Nick Mitzevich said the Perth presentation would be the first time the work had been loaned within Australia for more than two decades, and its first trip to Western Australia. He described the painting as one of the most important works of the 20th century and said it is normally on permanent display.

The loan is intended to keep the gallery’s most valuable artwork accessible to the public during a $320 million capital works program. The Australian government bought the abstract impressionist painting in 1973 for $1.3 million, then the highest price paid for an American painting worldwide. In 2023, it was valued at $500 million.

At the peak of construction next year, between 60 and 70 per cent of the NGA will be closed, including during installation of a new roof. The upgrades are expected to continue for the next two and a half years. The NGA did not disclose how the artwork would be transported across the country, while Mitzevich said the gallery was confident it would be kept safe and indicated further loan arrangements could follow.