CANBERRA.- The National Gallery of Australia today announced that the Turner from the Tate: The Making of a Master exhibition season will be extended by one week, now closing at 5pm on Sunday 15 September 2013.

‘We are very pleased to host this exceptional exhibition for another week, allowing more visitors to experience the remarkable works of this celebrated and distinguished artist’, said Adam Worrall, Assistant Director Exhibitions, National Gallery of Australia. ‘The exhibition has been a highlight of the Centenary of Canberra celebrations and I encourage all of those who may not have already seen Turner from the Tate to visit and experience many of Turner’s most famous paintings before they depart Australia’, he said.

The exhibition has already attracted tens of thousands of visitors to Canberra during the traditionally quiet winter period and it is expected thousands more will travel to Canberra as the weather warms up, to see the exhibition in August and September.

The Wedgwood Tea Room has been especially popular, with Ploughman’s lunches and High Teas selling out regularly on the weekends. Visitors are encouraged to plan ahead and book these experiences through Ticketek: www.ticketek.com.au/turner

Turner from the Tate offers fresh perspectives on J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851), Britain’s most renowned artist and a key figure of the Romantic period. Throughout his career, Turner revolutionised the idea of landscape painting. From detailed examinations of topographical scenes, to highly experimental renditions of mountain and sea scapes, the artist shows his mastery of the mediums of oil watercolour painting.

London’s Tate, the institution from where the exhibition is drawn, holds the largest collection of Turner’s works in the world, as a result of the Turner Bequest, which was the artist’s gift to the British people.

The exhibition includes over 100 works never before seen at the National Gallery of Australia, ranging from expansive oil paintings and watercolours to intimate sketches, as well as Turner’s own paintbox and sketchbooks.

Turner from the Tate: The Making of a Master is organised by the Tate in association with Art Exhibitions Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.