A WORLD famous painting housed in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is set to go on tour for the first time in seven years.

Museum officials have agreed to loan out Salvador Dali’s Christ of St John of the Cross to three places across the globe where it will be part of an exhibition.

It is the first time the painting will be put out on loan since 2010.

The vastly popular painting will first go to the Royal Academy of Arts in London in September.

There it will be one of the start attractions of an exhibition bringing together works from Dali and Marcel Duchamp.

The painting will then go to St Petersburg in Florida where it will be exhibited at The Dali Museum from February to May 2018.

As well as making its way back to Glasgow from time to time during this period it will also make a trip to County Durham in autumn 2019 until spring.

Duncan Dornan, head of Glasgow Museums said: “Glasgow’s art collection is considered one of the finest in Europe and loaning key pieces increases access to the works so that people across the country and indeed the world can enjoy them, bolstering our reputation.

Painted in 1951 and purchased by the City of Glasgow in 1952, Christ of St John of the Cross continues to be one of the real draws for the million plus people who visit Kelvingrove Museum each year.

One of the Royal Academy’s most popular and moving paintings, Henry Raeburn’s Boy and Rabbit will go on show at Kelvingrove Museum as part of a reciprocal loan agreement.

Including his depiction of Christ on the cross Dali is most known for his surrealist paintings.