The Royal Ballet and the National Gallery are to join forces on an Olympics project which will bring together top British artists and dancers to celebrate some of the most valuable paintings in the gallery's collection.
Artists including Turner Prize winners Chris Ofili and Mark Wallinger are working with renowned choreographers such as Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon on the venture which takes three paintings by Renaissance master Titian as its inspiration.
The paintings, which are all based on the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses, include Diana and Actaeon, which was bought for £50 million in 2009, and its sister work Diana and Callisto, which is on offer to the nation for a further £50 million payable in 2013. The ambitious collaboration will culminate in an exhibition of the paintings at the National Gallery and a new triple bill of one-act ballets to be premiered at the Royal Opera House in the summer of 2012.
The ballets will be the final programme of works for Monica Mason, 69, who will be leaving the Royal Ballet after more than half a century, first as dancer and, for the last nine years, as director.
A spokeswoman said: "Monica didn't want a big tribute gala to her, she wanted to put on something quite new that would leave a legacy. It's really about giving her a great send-off."
Composers are also in talks about taking part, and poets including Simon Armitage and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy are writing new poems on the Metamorphoses theme for the National Gallery show.
