Visitor Figures
The 100 most popular art museums in the world—who has recovered and who is still struggling?
Our exclusive Visitor Figures 2022 survey shows that numbers in Paris and Seoul were almost back to normal last year, while other major centres such as London struggled to hit pre-pandemic levels
Wide disparity in museum access among UK school pupils, new research reveals
The Art Fund also reveals a drop in teachers taking students to institutions since the pandemic
National Gallery London masterpieces show in Shanghai sets record for visitor numbers
Beating the most popular paid-for exhibition on home turf, it has been a big win for the museum—but ethical questions linger
National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC is the most popular US art museum for first time since 2008
The museum narrowly beat the Met Fifth Avenue in New York into second place in 2022
The Met down 1.7 million visitors compared to pre-pandemic level—the biggest drop of any US art museum
The New York institution, usually the most popular art museum in the US, was overtaken in 2022 by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC
Covid-era booking systems may be putting off visitors to UK museums
Mixed messages and time slotted tickets could be deterring some people
Louvre retains its place as the most-visited art museum in the world
Paris institution tops our visitor figures survey yet again, while the city’s other museums do well too
M+ becomes one of the most-popular art museums in Asia, despite Covid closures
The new Hong Kong museum attracted more than 2 million people in its first full year
Revealed: the top 20 most popular art museums on social media in 2023
We look at how the 100 most-visited museums in our Visitor Figures survey performed online
Will China’s museums still come out on top despite harsh Covid rules?
For much of 2022, Chinese cities were either in lockdown or braced for one
Two years on, London museums are still missing visitors—what's happened?
For the capital’s museums, historically so reliant on international tourists, recovery from the pandemic has been slow
What has happened to visitor numbers at Russian museums since the start of the war?
As Russia leaves the world cultural stage following its invasion of Ukraine, we look at how its art institutions have reacted
World’s major museums resist TikTok surge—with a few notable exceptions
Our 2021 Visitor Figures survey shows that institutions are largely failing to adopt the world's most popular social media platform but those that do are reaping the rewards
French museums survived a drastic fall in tourism but may face uphill struggle as state support dries up
France’s status as a honeypot for tourists from Asia and the US has taken a huge hit, from which its cultural institutions are still reeling. Now the country’s museums hope that French and European visitors can restore their finances
Bouncing back: the US museums that have regained the visitors lost to Covid closures
While the pandemic has devastated the visitor numbers of many big-name museums, some medium-sized institutions are already thriving
How to get the next generation in India's youngest state to visit museums? Give schools money
The $17.4m scheme in Bihar has resulted in 33,000 young visitors to its main museum in Patna in a year
Visitor Figures 2021: the 100 most popular art museums in the world—but is Covid still taking its toll?
While attendance figures still have some way to go to reach pre-pandemic levels, fewer days of lockdown-related closures coupled with vaccine rollout programmes spelled good news for institutions around the world
Are UK museums deterring visitors with Covid booking system for permanent collections?
As restrictions ease, institutions are reconsidering the policy introduced during the pandemic as it could be putting off last-minute visitors
Running at 7%: Tate Modern's visitors slumped from 5.7 million at its peak to just 361,000 in 2020/21
Annual financial accounts show extent of fall in visitor numbers at national museums
Visitor figures: how many people are actually returning to London museums post-lockdown?
We asked English institutions to provide figures for the four-week period from 17 May to gauge current demand
While US museum attendance nosedived in 2020 amid pandemic, disparities in reopenings yielded a few surprises
Huntington Library in California and Crystal Bridges in Arkansas ascended to the top of our visitor figures list
Has the drop in visitors changed museums forever?
Exhibitions editor José da Silva breaks down the results from our Visitor Figures 2020 survey and digital expert Chris Unitt explains how museums have pivoted to digital
British Museum hit hardest by 2020 lockdown among UK’s big museums
Major UK institutions lost 78% of their visitors due to the pandemic last year, our research reveals
Visitor Figures 2020: top 100 art museums revealed as attendance drops by 77% worldwide
The Art Newspaper's annual survey shows how the pandemic had a devastating impact on museums around the world—but there were some silver linings
Can museums really make digital visits pay?
As venues experiment with selling virtual exhibition tours, talks and workshops online, the key to success may be an emphasis on the expert, bespoke and exclusive
Curate-it-yourself: French museums take to social media to ask the public what they want to see in their galleries
Spurred on by the pandemic, several institutions are inviting art lovers to choose works for display
Who were the most Googled artists in 2020?
Search data from 84 countries last year shows that Leonardo, Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo were among the world's most popular artists
Instagram overtakes Twitter as most popular platform for museums during Covid-19 pandemic
Our global Visitor Figures survey reveals huge growth in followings online as physical doors shut to the public in 2020
The Musée du Louvre—the world’s most popular art museum—saw 72% drop in visitors last year
Despite kicking off 2020 with a record-breaking Leonardo exhibition, like many museums around the world, the Parisian institution was adversely affected by coronavirus lockdowns
The exceptional piece of calligraphy at the centre of one of 2019's most popular—and most controversial—exhibitions
Tokyo National Museum’s show on Chinese artist Yan Zhenqing ranks 15th in our latest visitor attendance survey despite contentious loan from Taipei museum
Manga beats Rembrandt and Captain Cook to be named the British Museum’s most popular show last year
The exhibition on the global phenomenon was the largest ever to be staged outside Japan