Visitor Figures

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

Art's Most Popular: here are 2019's most visited shows and museums

Ai Weiwei was a hit in Brazil, records were broken in London and Paris—but is this the final year of museum visitor growth?

When did just looking at art lose its appeal?

Sleep in Hopper’s motel room or dive into Monet’s pond—museums are increasingly going beyond traditional exhibition formats to attract visitors

Mo people, mo problems: when busy shows go wrong

The cost of producing crowd-pulling shows can outstrip the cash they bring in. Here are some of the downsides of being just too popular

Which museums have the biggest social media followings?

Increasingly, the digital sphere is another frontier where institutions battle it out for the attention of culture-seekers

Legoland vs the Louvre: how do museums stack up against other popular visitor attractions and public events?

They might not always draw the crowds that flock to malls and amusement parks, but museums are seen as valuable additions to communities—even by people who have never stepped foot in one

What were the most visited ticketed shows in London, Paris and New York last year?

Londoners stuck to the tried-and-tested and New Yorkers showed their patriotic sides, while Parisians were drawn in by golden treasures

Here are 2019's most visited contemporary art exhibitions

Jean-Michel Basquiat brought in big crowds in Paris—but who beat him to claim the top spot?

Here are the most visited Old Master exhibitions of 2019

The hype surrounding major anniversary celebrations saw big turnouts for Bruegel, Leonardo and Rembrandt

Here are the ten most visited photography exhibitions of 2019

Female artists dominated the top ranks of last year's photography shows

Here are the ten most popular Post-Impressionist and Modern art exhibitions of 2019

Big names such as Munch, Klimt and Van Gogh dominate the rankings, but a couple of lesser-known artists did surprisingly well

Here are the ten most visited 19th century art exhibitions of 2019

Which Impressionist made the biggest impression in this category?

Louvre's Leonardo da Vinci show smashes attendance record with more than one million visitors

Previous highest figure was 540,000 people for the Eugène Delacroix show in 2018

Louvre defends planned switch to timed-entry tickets after Mona Lisa 'pandemonium'

Reservations will become mandatory at the world's most visited museum by the end of the year

British Museum knocks Tate Modern off top spot as UK's most popular attraction after miscalculation

Over 300,000 visitors had been missed in the financial year 2018/19 because of 'incorrect light levels caused by a broken light fitting'

It's back to school for the art world—here's why you shouldn't just rush to the blockbusters

From William Blake at Tate Britain to Gauguin at the National Gallery, London's museums are opening their biggest exhibitions this month—but how much are you really able to enjoy them?

Dior show smashes total attendance record at the V&A—but Alexander McQueen exhibition had more daily visitors

Exhibition of the late French designer had 594,000 visitors overall but was on for seven months

Crowd control: Louvre to enforce timed tickets in run-up to Leonardo da Vinci blockbuster

Reservations will mainly be online as French museum anticipates record visitor figures

Everything you need to know about 2018's exhibition and museum visitor figures

The Art Newspaper's exclusive annual survey ranks the world's most visited shows in 2018, looks at the rise of Instagram-friendly exhibitions, and reveals the secrets of getting into a blockbuster

Ranked: the top ten most popular shows in their categories from around the world

Including Old Masters, Contemporary, Post-Impressionist and Modern, and more

Art in the age of Instagram and the power of going viral

As visitors to exhibitions are increasingly sharing their experiences online, should curators plan shows for maximum hype?

Relax and immerse yourself... the art of experiencing museums slowly

Schemes such as Slow Art Day offer an alternative to life in the fast lane, away from the jostling crowds and selfie-takers

How global art can provide a kick-start to local economies

Special exhibitions mean big money—not only for the museums that hold them but for local businesses as well