Blue poles in former owner Ben Heller’s Central Park West apartment, New York, in the early 1970s.

To extract the painting, one of the apartment’s windows was removed.

Using ropes and pulleys, the Seven Santini Brothers hoisted the load to ground level, where the street was blocked off, and into a van for its trip to Australia in 1974.

Blue poles was transported via a shipping container.

The painting was exhibited around the country before arriving in Canberra.

Installing the enormous work took many hands.