Masterpieces from Paris Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Beyond opens at the National Gallery next week, and most of the paintings are in the process of being hung.

Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, one of the troubled artist's most famous works from 1888, was being placed in the gallery yesterday, where it will hang among 113 other works on loan from the Musee D'Orsay.

The exhibition has been made possible because the Musee d'Orsay is behind refurbished, and its upper galleries and east pavilion will be closed for renovations for at least a year.

Instead of putting its collection in storage, the museum decided on an international tour, with Canberra the only host in Australia.

Along with Van Gogh, some of the other artists featured include Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, Georges Seurat, Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Starry Night, along with some of the other well-known works such as Gauguin's Tahitian Women and Paul Signac's Women at the Well, rarely leave France.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times