THE director of the National Gallery today called for an end to blockbuster exhibitions because of the recession and proposed scaled-down shows of just one or two paintings instead.

Nicholas Penny claims the public has been spoilt by several shows from big-name artists and needs to prepare for a new age of austerity next year.

He said: "We have to find new ways of staging exhibitions, especially in this present economic climate, with rising transport and insurance costs in loaning works of art.

"There is increasing competition for the number of exhibitions and the opportunity to have them. I would like to stage one- or two-picture exhibitions in the future."

He said visitors, used to rooms full of Titians, Monets and Caravaggios, will now have to be content with crowding around solitary pieces, but this could lead to a greater appreciation of the work.

"I think there are a great many works of art that could benefit from isolation," he said. "There is something comical about having a line-up of the Virgin And Child. It's not a beauty competition. These religious works of art would gain from being show in isolation, because it re-emphasises their sacred purpose."

Mr Penny has criticised blockbuster exhibitions as the capital has enjoyed a cultural boom in the past few years with record numbers attending galleries and museums.

The National's own blockbuster Velazquez show in 2006-2007 attracted a record 300,000 people last year, propelling it into eighth place in the world's most attended galleries with 4.1 million annual visitors. The Tate Modern and British Museum also featured in the top 10, strengthening London's claim to be the cultural capital of the world ahead of Paris and New York.

Yet the National's director has criticised the focus on visitor numbers and accused the Chinese Terracotta Army and Hadrian exhibitions at the British Museum of pandering to popularism. More than 850,000 people attended the Terracotta Army exhibition in 2007, and 250,000 saw the Hadrian: Empire and Conflict show last year.

Mr Penny points to the success of a special exhibition of the two Titian works - Diana And Actaeon and Diana And Callisto - he is trying to raise £50million to keep in public hands. "It has been one of the most successful things this year. It was a two-picture exhibition, just two works in one room and it was a major event which drew incredible numbers of people," he said.

"It is about learning to look at one picture and that is what people did, they stood for a long time and looked, puzzled over it, drew it and argued about it." The criticisms come as the National prepares for what could well be its biggest ever exhibition - a comprehensive showcase of Picasso in February.

But Mr Penny said he also hoped to stage one- or two-piece exhibitions of 19th-century British artists as it is a "greatly under-represented" area.

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