Louvre enters new year with record number of visitors
January 4, 2019
More people than ever before visited the Louvre in Paris in 2018. To mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death, the museum is showing a comprehensive exhibition this year.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Warnecke
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Were you at the Louvre in 2018? Then you helped the world-famous museum in Paris set a new visitor record. Last year, 10.2 million art enthusiasts flocked to the museum. That's an increase of 25 percent over 2017 and breaks the previous record set in 2012, when 9.7 million people came to the Louvre.
Almost three quarters of the guests came from abroad, with Americans and Chinese at the top. At 2.5 million, the number of French visitors also increased significantly compared to the previous year.
The whole building a work of art: the Galerie d'Apollon in the LouvreImage: picture-alliance/maxppp/Angelo/Leemage
There seem to be several reasons for the increase in visitors. There's the retrospective on the painter Eugène Delacroix, which attracted around 540,000 art lovers in 2018 and, according to the museum, was "the most successful exhibition ever held at the Louvre." Delacroix was one of the most important French painters and is regarded as a pioneer of Impressionism.
Also, Paris is once again a magnet for tourists in the wake of the spate of terror attacks which deterred people from visiting the French capital. In addition, the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened in 2017, drawing further attention to the Louvre in Paris.
Pop stars as art ambassadors
And a music video also boosted the popularity of the Museum: Pop star Beyoncé and rapper Jay Z shot the video for their song "Apeshit" in the Louvre last year. The video features many of the museum's masterpieces and has been clicked 147 million times so far on YouTube.
"I'm delighted that the Louvre is so popular," says the Louvre's director, Jean-Luc Martinez. The goal was not necessarily to attract more visitors, but to improve the conditions for the guests, he said. This included clearer signage and the introduction of time slot tickets to shorten the queues at the ticket booths.
Designed by the Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei: the pyramid has become a landmarkImage: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Tödt
What visitors can expect in 2019
A highlight of the year will be the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the famous glass pyramid, the entrance area of the Louvre that was built in 1989. Today, like the Eiffel Tower, it is a Parisian landmark. On the last weekend of March, there will be several free events in the Louvre's courtyard.
Another major event is the exhibition on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci. The Louvre itself owns five of the 14 renowned Da Vinci paintings, including the world-famous "Mona Lisa."
7 things you may not know about the 'Mona Lisa'
The famous woman with the mysterious smile from centuries ago became an icon of the 20th century, inspiring artists, filmmakers, musicians and writers. Her 500-year-old history still fascinates people.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C2RMF/V.A. Solé/ESRF
A lot of speculation about a phantom
There's a great deal of speculation about the person Leonardo da Vinci painted at the beginning of the 16th century. One theory goes that both a man and a woman modeled for the portrait. But a more widely recognized interpretation is that Mona Lisa was Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a Florentine silk trader.
Image: Imago/Cinema Publishers Collection
Famous admirers
The painting landed in the private collections of French kings following Leonardo da Vinci death's in 1519. Following the French Revolution, it held a place of honor in Napoleon Bonaparte's bedroom. As of 1815, it could be seen by the public in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Image: picture-alliance/aka-images
Mona Lisa has a twin
The twin has been on show for some time in Madrid's Museo del Prado. In 2012, it was discovered that this painting was created simultaneously with the original. Restoration work exposed the same Italian landscape in the background and the same improvements. That proves that both works were created at the same time. The painter of this one was presumably Francesco Melzi, one of da Vinci's pupils.
Image: dapd
Disappearing act
The "Mona Lisa" didn't really become famous until she disappeared. An Italian living in Paris stole the painting from the Louvre in 1911, wishing to take it back to Italy. It remained missing for two years before police arrested the man. The painting's return to Paris prompted an unprecedented storm of visitors to the Louvre.
Mona Lisa evokes a lot of different feelings – and apparently not only positive ones. Two different acts of vandalism were performed on the painting in 1956. One vandal threw acid at the painting, damaging it. Then a Bolivian tourist threw a rock at it. Since then, it's protected behind bullet-proof glass, which shielded it when a visitor threw a mug at it in 2009.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Godong/F. de Noyelle
The 'sfumato' effect is the secret
Countless scientists and art historians have analyzed the painting, unearthing surprising findings. In 2008, the mystery behind Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile was solved: a painting technique called "sfumato." Da Vinci applied several thin layers of paint over one another to create a blurred effect and blend the colors. It lends the painting, particularly the face, a rich, yet elusive atmosphere.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C2RMF/V.A. Solé/ESRF
A long history
The "Mona Lisa" has not only prompted the greatest commentary ever in the history of art, it has inspired countless artists to create variations on it – from Joseph Beuys to Andy Warhol. As a media icon of the 20th century, she is found in everything from literature to music and advertising. Bob Dylan once said "Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues; you can tell by the way she smiles."
Image: Museum Barberini, Potsdam
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There were plans to bring further paintings from Italian collections to Paris for the exhibition, but these have run into problems due to a dispute with the Italian government about the loans. In addition to the paintings, "a large selection of drawings" will also be presented. According to the Louvre, the exhibition aims to represent the result of more than 10 years of work and research around Leonardo's work: His paintings have been were scientifically reexamined and three of them restored. The exhibition will run from October 24 to February 24, 2020.
Another new feature are the "Saturday Night Openings." Every first Saturday of the month, entry is free from 6 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.
