Paris Museum of Modern Art
(MAM) Director Fabrice Hergott recently explained why record numbers of people
visited winter exhibits at museums throughout Paris. He explained that since
all museums observe the same cost-benefit economic principles, museum management
committees budget productions based on estimated visitors and try to put on a large
event that will serve as a draw on a semi-regular basis.
In 2011, nine million people visited the Louvre; last year that number reached
10 million. The 3.8 million visitors to the Centre Pompidou represented a 5.5%
increase compared to 2011 (The Centre Pompidou has experienced 48% growth in
the number or museum attendees in the last six years.) Meanwhile, the Musee
d'Orsay recorded its best attendance numbers in twenty years with 3.6 million
visitors. The surge in museum visitors has resulted in a robust market for Paris museum passes.
Many industry experts attribute the blockbuster attendance numbers to an
increase in temporary exhibitions. The popular exhibits in Paris have attracted
huge crowds and surpassed the expectations of even the experts.
Museums are raking in the profits as a result of solo exhibitions devoted to
well-loved artists, with one-man shows clearly the biggest draw in the city.
Although artists dead and alive are big draws for the museums, exhibitions
dedicated to modern artists and photographers have a tendency to attract considerably
fewer guests. Attendance for thematic exhibitions is even lower. As a result of
spotting these trends Paris’s museums have adapted to the swell in shows and visitors
and become professionals at coping with jam-packed lines and galleries teeming
with art enthusiasts. Some of the museums have remained open for 24 hours a day
to accommodate all of the people with Paris museum passes that wish to see
these exhibits.
Christophe Leribault, Director ofthe Petit Palais— where the City of Paris
Museum of Fine Arts is housed— revealed that the secret of success is to find a
good theme, an even better title and work the communications angle. Meanwhile
the nearby Grand Palais has hosted wildly successful retrospectives on
Impressionist genius Claude Monet (913,000 visitors) and the renowned Pablo
Picasso (783,000 visitors). American realist painter Dennis Hopper’s exhibit,
which ended February 3, had sold 700,000 tickets well before the end of its run
at the Petit Palais.
Although the boom in art exhibits has been universally lauded, some experts are
reserving judgment on the trend. French sociologist Alain Quemin, who specializes
in contemporary art and is Professor of Sociology of Art at the Institute of European
Studies of the University of Paris VIII and Honorary Member of the l’Institut
Universitaire de France feels that the influx of art shows is a mixed blessing.
He recently told the press, “Some [of the exhibits] measure up to scientific
and esthetic requirements, others simply respond to economic pressure. In both
cases, marketing rules.''
