SCOTLAND'S National Galleries will try to attract London Olympics visitors with a series of new blockbuster shows in 2012, including exhibitions featuring Picasso, Van Gogh and a major retrospective of leading Scottish artist John Bellany.

The exhibitions, featuring some of the most recognisable names in art, hope to attract visitors to the 2012 London Olympics north of the Border, with the largest-ever Picasso show in Scotland at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA), as well as a show of more than 70 works in a major exhibition about landscape painting from Van Gogh to Kandinsky.

The Picasso show, which will run from August to November next year, will feature more than 60 works by the Spanish master, as well as paintings by British artists inspired by him, including David Hockney, Henry Moore and Francis Bacon.

John Leighton, the director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland, said that despite a frozen grant from the Scottish Government in the recent spending review, and uncertainty over whether the Olympics will be of benefit to Edinburgh’s attractions, the galleries were “putting their best foot forward” for 2012.

There will also be a retrospective of the Scottish colourist Samuel J Peploe, and The Sculpture Show will see SNGMA entirely given over to modern sculpture from 1900 to 2012, including works by Eduardo Paolozzi, Henry Moore and Ron Mueck, as well as Karla Black and Martin Boyce, Scottish contemporary artists both in the running for this year’s Turner Prize.

There will also be a large exhibition devoted to the relatively unknown Italian landscape watercolourist Giovanni Lusieri, and the first of three-yearly photographic exhibitions, Romantic Camera, at the revamped Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which is to re-open to the public on December 1.

Lusieri, apart from being a master painter, helped Lord Elgin remove, pack and ship the Elgin Marbles, and several works from the Elgin family are in the show.

Mr Leighton said: “We may not have the financial clout of some of our neighbours in London or Paris but we put on a programme that would rival many cities across Europe.

“Next year is obviously a special year, and opinion seems to be divided over whether the Olympics will be a great thing for those of us outside London or not, but we our putting our best foot forward and it is a strong showing.”

Keith Hartley, senior curator of the John Bellany show, said the painter, who will celebrate his 70th birthday next year, had received a “huge fillip” from the show, and had ordered several large canvasses to work on new art.

Mr Leighton said the galleries will face hard financial pressures in the next three years, but free entry will be protected to the permanent collections.

However, the National Galleries’ power to acquire new works has been severely curtailed – the ring-fenced acquisition budget is no more – and staff numbers are shrinking as those who depart are not necessarily being replaced.

He added: “We are absolutely determined to keep free access right at the centre of our policies and the recent financial settlement allows us to do that.

“What you see in [our plans for 2012] is really good use of the permanent collection, and a balance of paying shows and the free permanent collection – that has worked in the past and we will take it forward.

“We are still discussing with the Government what our capital allocation will be. There’s no doubt it is going to be tough – but it is not a doomsday scenario.”