Masterpieces from Paris has been so successful that the National Gallery of Australia will extend the exhibition for an extra two weeks.

Gallery director Ron Radford revealed to The Canberra Times yesterday that the exhibition of post-Impressionist works from the Musee D'Orsay would remain open for another 13 days, and will now run until April 18.

He said the gallery would also be extending its hours and limiting the number of people allowed in each day, an unprecedented move for an Australian gallery.

''This has never had to be done in Australia before, but we feel we need to do it because there's just too many people it's been over-successful,'' he said.

More than 300,000 people have already seen the exhibition, well past the gallery's target of 250,000.

He said the exhibition, the most expensive staged in Australia, was well on the way to breaking even, and would probably make a profit, even allowing for the extra days. ''We're certainly not doing it for profits, and we certainly haven't had profits for the other blockbusters.''

For more on this story, see the print edition of today's Canberra Times.