The biggest-ever exhibition of work by the artists known as the Glasgow Boys is to open this week.

More than 140 works by the group will be shown at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum before transferring to London.

The exhibition will feature pieces by artists including Sir John Lavery, Sir James Guthrie and Edward Atkinson Hornel.

The Glasgow Boys caused a sensation when they held their first major art show in 1885.

Their bold use of colour, natural subject matter and use of light earned them acclaim, and the name which continues to link them today.

Private collections

The Glasgow Boys rebelled against the Edinburgh-dominated art scene of the late-19th Century because they thought it was oppressive.

Instead, they painted pictures of real people, in real places around their own city.

Although their work fell in and out of fashion during the 20th Century, it has always been admired and many of the paintings on display in the Kelvingrove come from private and corporate collections across the world.

It has taken several years to negotiate bringing the 140 works together for what will be the first Glasgow Boys exhibition in more than 40 years.

The art exhibition, which will be largest held at museum since its £35m refurbishment in 2006, is due to open on Friday and will run until 27 September.

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