Although the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil again gets the top spot, this time with its free Post-Impressionist show in Rio de Janeiro, this category otherwise gives more of an indicator of gallery-goers’ active choices rather than curious museum wanderings: six of the top ten shows charged individual fees, two shows were included with general museum entry and only two were free. The artists who feature are, perhaps, unsurprising. The Munch and Van Gogh show offered two blockbuster names for the price of one, while the latter’s private life remains an endless source of fascination. Dalí is perennially popular, and Frida Kahlo has entered the upper echelon of household-name artists in the past two decades. Touring shows from the Musée Picasso in Paris, like the one at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake in São Paulo here, have consistently drawn huge numbers. While the Picasso Sculpture show at the Museum of Modern Art was well below the Post-Impressionist Masterpieces in Brazil in per-day figures, it still attracted an astonishing 851,385 visitors over nearly five months—the highest total attendance figure in this category.
