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Matisse: The Cut-Outs becomes Tate's most popular exhibition ever | Matisse: The Cut-Outs becomes Tate's most popular exhibition ever |
(35 minutes later) | |
A Matisse exhibition has proved to be Tate's most popular show ever by some margin, with visitor numbers exceeding half a million for the first time. | |
Figures published on Monday showed that Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs had 562,622 visitors, surpassing the Matisse Picasso exhibition of 2002 – the previous record holder at 467,166 – and the Damien Hirst exhibition of 2012, with 463,087. | |
Tate's director, Nicholas Serota, who co-curated the latest show, put its success down "to the joyous quality of the works themselves". He added: "Also, the fact they have not been brought together for nearly 40 years captured people's imagination. People were aware that this would be a one-off opportunity they might have in their lifetime." | |
The cut-outs, produced between 1937 and Matisse's death in 1954, represented a glorious final chapter in a long artistic career and the Tate show was one of a number of big exhibitions in the UK exploring the later works of a series of artists, with Late Turner at Tate Britain opening last week and Rembrandt's late works at the National Gallery launching next month. | |
Tate visitor numbers were revealed in an annual report which showed that 7.04 million people visited its four galleries – Britain, Modern, Liverpool and St Ives – in 2013-14. That is down on the 7.7 million the previous year – but was to be expected, says Tate, given the Olympics spike of 2012 and the now completed redevelopment of Tate Britain. | |
Tate Modern retained its position as the most-visited gallery of modern and contemporary work in the world and Serota said its £215m extension would open to the public, as scheduled, in 2016. | Tate Modern retained its position as the most-visited gallery of modern and contemporary work in the world and Serota said its £215m extension would open to the public, as scheduled, in 2016. |
Tate also revealed details of some of the works, which will be lent to galleries around the UK – including Tracey Emin's My Bed, which will go to her hometown gallery of Turner Contemporary in Margate; David Hockney's My Parents, which will go to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich; and Wassily Kandinsky's Cossacks, which will travel to mima in Middlesbrough. |