Salvador Dali painting to leave Glasgow on loan
Christ of St John of the Cross will travel to London and Florida
Last updated 27th Jun 2017
One of Glasgow's most famous artworks will be temporarily leaving its home in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in early August.
Salvador Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross will move to London, where it will feature in an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.
The exhibition, called "Dali/Duchamp" will start in October and feature works from both artists, who despite their huge artistic differences were firm friends.
It will then move to The Salvador Dali museum in Florida in February, before finally returning home in May 2018.
The painting's curator, Pippa Stephenson, said: "This is one of the most important paintings in Glasgow museums."
"Painted in 1951, it is the first of Dali's paintings to explore weighty issues such as religion and science."
She also explained why it is important that paintings like this are loaned out. "We have one of the finest collections of art, not only in Glasgow or the UK, but the world.
"We have a responsibility as a museum service to lend out paintings. It would be slightly selfish to keep a painting with so much world significance just to ourselves, as much as we would love to.
"Lending artwork is a responsible thing to do, because it allows other people to see it.
"Not only that, it means that we can think about our artworks in a new light."