The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art has set a new record for visitors. Last year, 648,000 guests made their way to Humlebæk north of Copenhagen to see exhibitions by artists such as Emil Nolde and Olafur Eliasson.
The previous record was set way back in 1994 when an exhibition of Claude Monet's famous water-lily paintings attracted over 400,000 people in just a few months to attract a total of 640,000 guests over the year.
“Emil Nolde and Olafur Eliasson have been popular, but if you look at the figures, the museum has had many guests all year because we have diverse displays and extended opening hours,” Poul Erik Tøjner, the Louisiana museum director, told DR Nyheder.
The record year follows a number of years in which the museum consistently enjoyed high numbers of visitors, never attracting fewer than 550,000 guests per year.
READ MORE: Best of art in January: Build it and they will come!
Cracking donation
In related news, the popular museum has received an art donation this week worth over 100 million kroner. The eight original pieces include works by legendary artists such as Pablo Picasso, Juan Miró, Wassily Kandinsky and Jackson Pollock.
“It's a great pleasure to announce that Louisiana has received eight unique works by Picasso, Miró, Kandinsky, Pollock, Dubuffet, Kiefer and Kelly from Celia Ascher, the former head of the Riklis-McCrory Collection in New York, one of Louisiana's faithful friends and generous supporters since 1977,” Louisiana wrote in a press release.
The eight works are part of a 200-piece donation from the Joseph and Celia Ascher Collection, and 50 chosen works from the collection will be available for viewing in the north wing of the museum from January 13-March 22 this year.
