Extraordinary masterpieces by one of the world’s most famous post-impressionist artists will go on display in the city tomorrow – the first time they have been seen outside America.

In a European first, Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum is preparing to unveil 50 works, among them 24 by the French painter Paul Cezanne.

In six oils, two drawings and 16 watercolours, the majority depict Provençal landscapes, while others show characteristic Cézanne motifs including a skull, female bathers and his beloved Mont Sainte-Victoire.

Also in Cezanne and the Modern, which runs in Beaumont Street until June 22, are paintings and sculptures by artists including Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, Jacques Lipchitz, Edgar Degas and Amedeo Modigliani.

The collection formed by New York art collectors Henry and Rose Pearlman after the Second World War is considered one of the most important in North America.

Colin Harrison, the museum’s senior curator of European art, said: “It offers visitors the opportunity to see extraordinary masterpieces by some of the most famous artists of the impressionist and post-impressionist movements. Apart from the amazing paintings and watercolours by Cezanne, it includes wonderful works by artists who are little known in England.”