Some of the finest masterpieces by a number of the world's most celebrated artists will go on show at the Hong Kong Palace Museum from Wednesday.

In the special exhibition co-organised with the National Gallery, London, the Palace Museum will put on display 52 works painted by 50 influential artists, including Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Monet and Van Gogh.

Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery, London, said the exhibition in the SAR follows successful runs at the Shanghai Museum and the National Museum of Korea earlier this year.

“It is an exhibition about enjoying. It's also an exhibition about learning about the European tradition. I hope people will be inspired by what they see from the National Gallery's collection,” he said.

“I hope they'll be inspired to come and visit us if they come to London. But also it's about comparing and contrasting the traditions from here with those that we show in the National Gallery.”

Finaldi described working with the Palace Museum as a brand new experience.

“This is a very modern museum, it's a museum fundamentally of Chinese art. It's also a museum that I think is looking to develop international collaborations,” he said.

“The exhibition has also been arranged differently from how it was arranged before. Before it was arranged broadly chronologically across the five centuries that the exhibition covers, here it's arranged thematically… I think that's a very attractive and interesting way of presenting the selection of works.”

The special exhibition runs until April 11 2024.