Can you see what it is yet? Rolf's copy classics hang in the National

Visitors to the National Gallery in London can survey some of the finest art in the world. There are Rembrandts, Raphaels and Rubens. And now there will be Rolfs.

The overwhelming weight of public demand has secured the master of the paint roller, Rolf Harris, a place alongside masters of a somewhat more classic variety.

In two series of his BBC1 show, Rolf on Art – one transmitted last year, another due to begin next month – the cheerful antipodean has knocked off several dozen works based on Monet, Gauguin and the like. He sat in an East End flower market to produce his own Sunflowers original inspired by Vincent Van Gogh. Even critics admitted it was surprisingly good.

Now about eight of these Rolf originals will be seen in their own exhibition in a room near the National Gallery café, raising the pleasing prospect of viewing Rolf, enjoying a cuppa, then finally surveying the real thing.

Admittedly, the National Gallery has only a couple of the actual paintings copied by Rolf Harris for his television show that created a record for the visual arts on television by attracting seven million viewers.

But a spokeswoman said many of the artists Rolf discusses were represented in the collection and they hoped his copies would stimulate interest in them. The exhibition is likely to resurrect claims the BBC is dumbing down in many areas of broadcasting, including its arts coverage.