This world class exhibition, curated by former Turner Prize judge Greville Worthington, will explore this foremost contemporary artist through his renowned print works. The striking show of more than 50 works, many unseen by the public, has been loaned by several northern collectors and is one not to miss. With the support of these private collectors, the Museum has drawn together Hirst's best quality prints to form the first exhibition to re-establish a contemporary programme at The Bowes Museum.

Joanna Hashagen, Keeper of Textiles at the Bowes Museum talks about the new gallery and the collection of textiles created by the founders, John and Josephine Bowes - these are mostly furnishings and tapestries. There is also the later, fashion collection of costumes, and textiles found in the home. The costume collection runs from the 20th century back to the 15th and 16th centuries.

The Bowes Museum also houses 'The Last Communion of Peter Nolasco' (1611), part of a series of six paintings executed by Francisco Pacheco (1564-1654) for the Mercedarian convent of Seville. Although this painting has strayed far from its original home, the curator Jon Old shows how its material fabric, currently under conservation, retains physical traces of Seville.

The Bowes Museum collection of Spanish art is second in the UK only to that of the National Gallery and was acquired along with other works by the Bowes' agent, at a sale in Paris in 1862. Among its treasures are key works by El Greco (1541-1614) and Goya (1746-1828). The museum's 2010 exhibition on Goya highlights his key work 'Interior of a Prison' (1793-4). This work offers a very different kind of subject from El Greco's eloquently Catholic 'The Tears of Saint Peter' (c.1580), while generating an equally intense expressivity.

The Bowes Museum in County Durham opened in 1892. It was founded on the basis of the large personal collection of art accumulated by John and Josephine Bowes.