Tate has announced that Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs has received 562,622 visitors. This makes the prestigious exhibition the most popular ever held at Tate; and the first to receive over half a million people through its doors. The record as Tate’s most visited exhibition was previously held by ‘Matisse Picasso’ at Tate Modern with 467,166 visitors in 2002. This is followed rather closely by the Damien Hirst exhibition with 463,087 visitors in 2012. The exhibition was open over a five month period from 17 April to 7 September of this year, and seen by 3,907 visitors each day.
The artist in question; Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse (1869 – 1954) was one of the leading figures of Modern Art – and is considered as one of the most significant colourists of all time. Matisse was a draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor and painter. The exhibition at Tate was billed as ‘the most comprehensive exhibition ever devoted to the artist’s paper cut-outs’; the work on display was made between 1937 and 1954 and stated as a ‘ground-breaking reassessment of Matisse’s colourful and innovative final works’ – as the large body of cut-outs represents a the final chapter in the artist’s long career.
Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate stated: “We are delighted that so many people came to see Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs at Tate Modern. It is testament to the power and accessibility of Matisse’s work that the exhibition has captured imaginations of visitors of all ages throughout the spring and summer this year. We are immensely grateful to the private individuals and public institutions that lent precious and important works from their collections and to our collaborator, the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Without their generosity and the trust they placed in Tate the exhibition would simply not have been possible.”