PARIS, March 27 — The Art Newspaper has revealed its ranking of the most popular exhibitions of 2017, with a showing of Buddhist sculptures in Tokyo and an exhibit of Impressionist and Modern works in Paris coming out on top.
More than 1.2 million people visited Paris's Fondation Louis Vuitton to see works by Gauguin, Monet, Picasso and more that were collected by Russian industrialist Sergei Shchukin between 1898 and 1914.
That total visitor number, in fact, far surpasses the 600,000 who attended “Unkei: the Great Master of Buddhist Sculpture” at the Tokyo National Museum, a shorter-running show that The Art Newspaper ranked first for its higher average daily visitor count.
Third place goes to an Alphonse Mucha exhibition at National Art Center Tokyo whose total visitors likewise surpassed those of the Unkei show despite a lower daily average (the exhibition ran over three months, versus two for the top-ranked show).
Other top 10 exhibitions include National Art Centre Tokyo's “My Eternal Soul” by the ever-popular Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama; a free show in Rio de Janeiro devoted to Mondrian and De Stijl on the occasion of the De Stijl movement's centenary; and a trio of shows at the Guggenheim Bilbao.
The top 10 most popular exhibitions of 2017, based on average daily visitors:
1. “Unkei: The Great Master of Buddhist Sculpture,” Tokyo National Museum
2. “Icons of Modern Art: The Shchukin Collection,” Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
3. “Alphonse Mucha,” National Art Centre Tokyo
4. “Painters' Painters,” Saatchi Gallery, London (free)
5. “Yayoi Kusama: My Eternal Soul,” National Art Center Tokyo
6. “Mondrian and De Stijl,” Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro (free)
7. “Ken Jacobs: The Guests,” Guggenheim Bilbao
8. “Bill Viola: A Retrospective,” Guggenheim Bilbao
9. “Georg Baselitz: The Heroes,” Guggenheim Bilbao
10. “Van Gogh and the Seasons,” National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne — AFP-Relaxnews
