Have Monet, will travel: The National Gallery of Australia's treasured Haystacks is heading to the Tweed

Claude Monet's luminous Meules, milieu du jour [Haystacks, midday] is one of the National Gallery of Australia's most precious works, and one of the great French artist's most recognisable.

But when the federal government announced its intention to share parts of the national collection to regional centres, the gallery rose to challenge.

The haystacks, acquired by the gallery in 1979, was only recently on general display in the main exhibition space.

Like Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles and James Turrell's Within without, the work has long been a destination piece for art lovers.

But on Friday, the work was hanging in a climate-controlled storage space in the gallery's vast storage rooms, ready to be shipped off to Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre.

Federal arts minister Tony Burke agreed that the painting was worth seeing in the flesh, so to speak, and said as many Australians as possible deserved the chance to see it.

"I'm really happy the gallery made that decision because it sends a message that we're serious about sharing the collection," he said.

"It's not like we've got excess works that would never be displayed in the National Gallery. This is something that the national gallery of any country in the world would be proud to have. And we're sharing it with a regional gallery.

"Works do need to be rested for a time, but it's also the fact that we've got a national collection that's big enough to share."

He said the arts should be integral to all walks of life.

"For me, the arts are oxygen for the nation," he said.

"And that's why we wanted to develop a cultural policy, not just an arts policy, because it goes to the way our culture and works of art ricochet through every aspect of Australian society."

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It's one of five works heading to Tweed, along with three works by iconic Australian artist Margaret Olley, and Natura morta [Still life], 1956, by Georgio Morandi - one of Olley's favourite artists.

National Gallery director Nick Mitzevich said the Monet was "a jewel in the national collection".

"It is the most important Monet in the country and we are delighted to be sharing it with regional Australia," he said.

He added that Margaret Olley had been a generous patron to many galleries across the country, and a champion of regional collections through philanthropy.

"This announcement coincides with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Margaret Olley's birth and I cannot think of a better embodiment of this initiative, which supports galleries across the country," he said.

Director for Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre Susi Muddiman said the federal government's Revive policy had given the region an "extraordinary opportunity".

"These world-class works of art will have a major impact on our community and enhance cultural tourism in our region," she said.

The Monet will leave Canberra in late October to go on display for two years, with the other four works to be sent next year.

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