The Art Gallery of Ontario is planning a major Pablo Picasso exhibition focused on the painter's popular "blue period."

The Toronto gallery says the exhibit, "Picasso: Painting the Blue Period," will include approximately 65 pieces by the Spaniard, as well as a selection of works by other artists he would have known and studied.

The exhibit includes major international loans from private collections and public institutions in North America, Europe, Japan and Israel.

Set to run next summer, the gallery says it will be the first exhibition on Picasso's blue period to be mounted in Canada.

The blue period includes the years between 1901 and 1904 when Picasso created largely monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green.

The exhibit is being co-organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. It's set to run June 27 to Sept. 20, 2020.