MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.-The most important exhibition of postwar and contemporary art ever held in Australia is on view exclusively in Melbourne from the internationally renowned Guggenheim Museum. The fourth exhibition in the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series, Guggenheim Collection: 1940s to Now brings masterworks from the 20th and 21st centuries to the National Gallery of Victoria, revealing the evolution of art from the 1940s, with iconic works from every decade to the present. It will be on view through October 7, 2007.

“The range and power of this collection will amaze and delight viewers," said NGV Director Gerard Vaughan.

“It is the art of our time. A who’s who of acclaimed artists from every decade, including Mark Rothko, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, Gilbert & George, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Cindy Sherman as well as many significant artists whose work has never been seen before in Australia,” Dr Vaughan said.

Tony Ellwood, NGV Deputy Director, International Art said the exhibition is a great coup for Melbourne. “It is the first time works from the Guggenheim Museum have been seen in Victoria, and no other venue in the world will present this exhibition.

“That it is coming to Melbourne is an indication of the NGV’s fine reputation for staging and managing exhibitions of international significance,” Mr Ellwood said.

A joint collaboration by the NGV and the Guggenheim, the exhibition draws from the Guggenheim collections of New York, Venice, Bilbao and Berlin and will include more than 85 works by 68 artists representing 22 nationalities. It includes a variety of media - paintings, works on paper, sculpture, photographs, and new media. The works are sometimes overwhelming in size or in the subjects they tackle, including the personal, political and popular.

“This exhibition will enthral visitors with works which range from beautiful to confronting, and will help them understand the development of art over the past seventy years,” said Tony Ellwood.

“Postwar and contemporary art has gained huge audiences worldwide. This collection takes viewers on an unforgettable journey through the eyes of such masters as Pollock and Rothko to daring contemporary artists such as Rachel Whiteread and Felix Gonzales-Torres,” he said.

Guggenheim Collection: 1940s to Now reflects world events from the 1940s to now, including the Cold War, political repression, censorship, increasing social freedoms, the Vietnam War, and the rise of consumerism.

The exhibition charts the development of art from postwar figuration and abstract expressionism, to minimalism and pop art, to the most recent developments in international contemporary art. Masterworks from the early years include Alberto Giacometti’s unsettling sculpture from 1947 Nose, in which a suspended head eerily resembles a gun, and Roy Lichtenstein’s Preparedness 1968 with its pop-art depiction of massive machinery and soldiers evoking both war (specifically the Vietnam War) and the modern industrial machine. Dan Flavin’s luminous room, Untitled (to Jan and Ron Greenberg), from 1972 will bathe viewers in green and yellow fluorescent light.

Visitors can step inside Bruce Nauman’s Floating Room (Light Outside, Dark Inside) and walk across Carl Andre’s Hot Rolled Steel Floor. They can marvel at Ann Hamilton’s between taxonomy and communion, with its 14,000 human and animal teeth, which comments on relationships between the species, and between the living and the dead.

Rachael Whiteread’s extraordinary sculpture, Untitled (Basement) from 2001, is a vast cast of a staircase turned on its side, presenting the viewer with an uncanny sense of looking at some sort of elegiac ruin. Sol LeWitt’s intricate Wall Drawing #264, will fascinate visitors with its intense detail and intimacy and the fact it will be realised on site by assistants and painted over at the end of the exhibition.

Visitors will also be invited to collect their own memento from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ Untitled (Public Opinion) - a continually replenished 300kg-spill of cellophane-wrapped liquorice rod candy, evoking bullets or missiles, which was created in 1991 as a comment on the prevailing political mood of conservatism and censorship.

“Diverse in content and approach, the works in this exhibition are at once beautiful and challenging”, said Amy Barclay, NGV Coordinating Curator for the exhibition.

“This is an extremely important exhibition which will appeal to people of all ages and we are delighted to welcome the Guggenheim Museum to Melbourne,” said Dr Gerard Vaughan.

Guggenheim Collection: 1940s to Now will be open 10am to 5pm daily from 30 June - 7 October and from 5pm to 9pm every Wednesday from 4 July.

This exhibition has been organised by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, and the National Gallery of Victoria and is indemnified by the State Government of Victoria. Principal Sponsor: Mercedes-Benz. Official Airline: Qantas Airways. Support Sponsors: Ernst & Young, The Age, Publicis Mojo, Sofitel Melbourne, Tourism Victoria, City of Melbourne, Melbourne Airport and JCDecaux. An audio guide will be available and a range of public and education programs will coincide with the exhibition. Exhibition admission fees apply: Adult $20/Concession $16/Family $50/NGV Members $16/NGV Members Family $40. For more exhibition information visit www.ngv.vic.gov.au.