 BRITAIN'S first Gustav Klimt exhibition is to be held at Tate Liverpool after two years of negotiations with art lenders across the globe. The Austrian artist's work is incredibly fragile because much of it uses gold and precious gems. It is also difficult to buy or borrow because so much of it went missing during World War II. Earlier this year, his portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer sold for £73m, then a world record for an oil painting in a private sale. The exhibition, Gustav Klimt: Painting, Design and Modern Life in Vienna 1900, will run for three months. Christoph Grunenberg, director of Tate Liverpool, said: "There has never been a Klimt exhibition in the UK before. It will be an amazing show. "What makes his work so special is its incredible decorative quality. "Most of the works are in Austria but some of the pieces are in other parts of Europe, Japan and America. "Any Klimt show is an incredible challenge. The Tate has very good relations with museums and lenders across the world, and that was the only way we were able to persuade them to lend us pieces." The life and work of the most famous architect of the 20th century, Le Corbusier, is to feature in a major, new international exhibition which will premiere in Liverpool at Lutyens's crypt, in the Metropolitan Cathedral. Organised by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Le Corbusier: The Art of Architecture will run from October, 2008. It will include original architectural models, furniture, previously unpublished vintage prints, drawings, and paintings by Le Corbusier, in addition to specially-built models and reconstructions of historical interiors. Charles Knevitt, director of the RIBA Trust, said: "This will be the first major exhibition of Le Corbusier's work in Britain for more than 20 years." Liverpool commissions will include Ben Johnson's Liverpool Panorama at the Walker Art Gallery, a large-scale canvas celebrating the city's arts by the Singh Twins and Jyll Bradley's Fragrant, which uses the municipal botanical collection. National Museums Liverpool is putting together a year-long festival across its seven venues, starting with High Society, an exhibition by French artist James Tissot at the Lady Lever Gallery. It will also host Monet to Hopper: The Artist and the Railway, featuring works by Van Gogh, Pissarro and Chirico as well as the event's namesakes. The city's 800-year history will be explored in the Magical History Tour at Merseyside Maritime Museum, and the new International Slavery Museum and Customs and Excise Museum will have opened their doors. And a series of pavilions will be built in Vauxhall, Garston and Kensington by artists and architects. | 
