Tate pockets oval Billiard table

The artwork, Carambole with Pendulum, was created by Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco in 1996.

"The shape and lack of pockets deny the traditional function of a games table while drawing attention to its visual qualities," said the Tate.

Other works purchased last year include JMW Turner's The Blue Rigi, which cost £4.95m and is on show at Tate Britain.

The Tate galleries have also announced blockbuster art shows for next year featuring Francis Bacon and Gustav Klimt.

City of culture

Some 7.7 million art fans visited the Tate's four galleries in London, St Ives and Liverpool between April 2006 and March this year.

Tate Modern was the most popular, with 5.2 million visitors.

In the previous year, the combined total of visitors to all the galleries was 6.4 million.

Tate Britain will hold the UK's first retrospective on Bacon since 1985 in the run-up to the centenary of his birth in 2009.

To celebrate its status as the European Capital of Culture 2008, Tate Liverpool will present the first comprehensive exhibition of Gustav Klimt's work staged in the UK.

The exhibition will open in May next year and run until the end of August.

Tate Modern is also planning the first major exhibition dedicated to US post-war painter Mark Rothko.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Tate
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites