Heads Up: Turner Monet Twombly

Paint the town red ... and yellow ... and blue ... and grey

Monet's Poplars on the Epte

What are we talking about? Tate Liverpool is about to host this ground-breaking exhibition displaying over 60 works by three of the most influential painters of their respective times – JMW Turner (1775-1851), Claude Monet (1840-1926) and Cy Twombly (1928-2011).

Elevator pitch Romanticism, Impressionism and contemporary art all in one room.

Prime movers Jeremy Lewison – formerly director of collections at Tate – is the exhibition's curator. He's been assisted by Jo Widoff at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, and Eleanor Clayton at Tate Liverpool.

The stars As much as Turner and Twombly are thrilling, the real crowd-puller is Claude Monet's "water lilies" series which marked the crowning moment of his career.

The early buzz The Guardian, when commenting on Monet's paintings, described them as "some of the most beautiful and beloved paintings of the early 20th century" and "the largest assembly of the works in the UK in more than a decade". While The Times listed this exhibition as a must-see visual art event for 2012, writing that: "Tate Liverpool puts on what promises to be another truly illuminating exhibition in Turner Monet Twombly. The luminous vision of the 19th-century Masters is taken forward into the modern world by the American Expressionist Cy Twombly, who died last summer."

Insider knowledge Works by Monet and Twombly will be drawn from museums and private collections across the world, while the Turner displays will be supplemented by loans from American museums.

It's great that... for the first time in more than a decade, an extraordinary five of Monet's water lilies have been brought together in the UK to feature in the show, with two of those never before seen in the UK.

It's a shame that... while the exhibition examines the historical links and common characteristics between the artists, it focuses only on their later works as opposed to other periods in their careers.

Hit potential The coming together of three of the greatest painters of the past 200 years at this major summer exhibition is nothing short of a revelation.

The details Turner Monet Twombly: Later Paintings is at Tate Liverpool at Albert Dock, Liverpool, tate.org.uk, 22 June to 28 October.