Te Papa will have a "high level of security" over the next four months as it hosts a multimillion-dollar exhibition of works by Claude Monet and other French artists including Cezanne.

The 56 artworks 27 of which are by Monet have been loaned by Boston's Museum of Fine Arts for the show Monet and the Impressionists, which opens in Wellington on Saturday.

Going on the prices for other works by the same artists, a conservative estimate for the exhibition's combined value would be somewhere between NZ$500 million and $1 billion.

Last June, Monet's Le Bassin aux Nympheas sold for $114 million a record for one of his works.

Te Papa spokeswoman Bridget MacDonald said that, under the terms of its agreement with the Museum of Fine Arts, the museum could not discuss the value of individual works or the collection as a whole.

However, she added that Te Papa could host the exhibition, which runs until May 17, only because the Government had agreed to indemnify it.

Te Papa could also not discuss the security plans for the exhibition. "However, we can confirm a high level of security is maintained for valuable exhibitions such as Monet and the Impressionists."

Last year, the exhibition was shown at the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts and at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, where it attracted 221,000 visitors over four months making it the fourth most popular exhibition in the gallery's history.