Van Gogh show to open all night on final weekend

The National Gallery's Van Gogh exhibition is to stay open for 24 hours during its final weekend.

Poets And Lovers has already become the third most popular paid exhibition in the London attraction's history, with 283,499 visitors from its opening day on 14 September.

It is the gallery's first show devoted to Vincent Van Gogh, and is focuses on the artist's imaginative transformations.

It includes more than 60 works on loan from museums and private collections around the world.

Speaking about the overnight opening, Sir Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery, said he was “delighted” that more than 200,000 people have seen the exhibition, and that members of the public will have the “rare and special” opportunity to experience Van Gogh's pictures during the night and early hours of the morning.

He added that those taking advantage of the event would be following in the footsteps of artists such as Freud, Bacon and Hockney, “who came here during those times to take inspiration from the gallery's collection”.

Tickets for the extra night-time viewing slots on 17 January will go on sale on Thursday, with the gallery opening overnight for just the second time in its history - with the first being for Leonardo da Vinci: Painter At The Court of Milan in 2012.

A 90-minute in-depth film called Exhibition On Screen: Van Gogh Poets And Lovers, directed by David Bickerstaff, will also show off the display in UK cinemas.

National Gallery members are able to visit the exhibition, which closes on 19 January, for free.

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