This weekend is your last chance to see one of the most iconic paintings in art history in York.
Claude Monet’s masterpiece, ‘The Water-Lily Pond’, has been on display at York Art Gallery as part of an exhibition that celebrates the National Gallery’s 200th birthday.
The exhibition, which opened in May, will finish this weekend on Sunday 8 September.
‘The Water-Lily Pond’ is one of 12 paintings from the National Gallery’s collection which went on loan at 12 locations around the UK to mark the institution’s 200th birthday.
The exhibition has attracted huge visitor numbers, with tens of thousands of people coming to York Art Gallery to see the Monet masterpiece.
“The exhibition has been an amazing success,” Sonia Mackelworth, head of communications and marketing at York Museums Trust, told YorkMix.
“As of Sunday 1 August we were at over 65,000 visitors and hoping we may hit 70,000 by end of Sunday 8 September.”
The visitors numbers exclude any special event numbers. This means the gallery have smashed their “ambitious target we set beforehand for visitor numbers” which was 40,000.
The Monet loan also inspired York Art Gallery to plant a wildflower meadow in its gardens.
“The response has been lovely,” said Sonia.
“The wildflower meadow and the trail in the gardens have also been a huge success and numbers through the gardens have been higher than usual, despite some pretty mixed weather.”
The exhibition finishes on Sunday 8 September. Alongside ‘The Water-Lily-Pond’, there is a vibrant new commission by acclaimed contemporary artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan.
Yearwood-Dan’s paintings are displayed alongside other works by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Utagawa Hiroshige.
Tickets for the Monet exhibition start from £6.30, and can be pre-booked online.