At its closing the evening of Monday, February 24, 2020, the exhibition “Leonardo da Vinci” had welcomed some 1,071,840 visitors. This broke a record for the Louvre, previously set by the retrospective dedicated to Delacroix in 2018, which attracted 540,000 visitors. The number of visitors to the Leonardo show averaged 9,783 per day over the 104 days of the exhibition.
These staggering figures, for an exhibition that lasted four months, may be explained by the addition of 46 extra evening openings (i.e. 175,000 visitors) and three last-minute all-night openings—a first in the history of the museum—in order to reach the largest possible audience. Among these visitors, 386,000 (36% overall), benefited from free entry.
In an extension of this landmark event, the Musée du Louvre and Pathé Live have announced the exclusive worldwide release of a filmed private visit of the exhibition: “A Night at the Louvre: Leonardo da Vinci” (September 2020).
These staggering figures, for an exhibition that lasted four months, may be explained by the addition of 46 extra evening openings (i.e. 175,000 visitors) and three last-minute all-night openings—a first in the history of the museum—in order to reach the largest possible audience. Among these visitors, 386,000 (36% overall), benefited from free entry.
In an extension of this landmark event, the Musée du Louvre and Pathé Live have announced the exclusive worldwide release of a filmed private visit of the exhibition: “A Night at the Louvre: Leonardo da Vinci” (September 2020).
Jean-Luc Martinez, President-Director of the Louvre proudly stated: “This immense success belongs first and foremost to the two curators of the exhibition, Louis Frank and Vincent Delieuvin, and goes to show just how much the Louvre means to people. It’s wonderful that 500 years after his death, an Italian Renaissance artist continues to fascinate the general public. Today, there are two things I’m proud of: managing to assemble the greatest number of Leonardo’s works ever, and welcoming such a large and diverse audience. The Louvre’s top-notch expertise and quality of its service deserve the acclaim it has received”.
Due to the exceptional enthusiasm Leonardo da Vinci generates among the public, entry to the exhibition was by timed reservation only. Tickets went on sale June 18, 2019. By managing the flow of visitors, this system allowed for easier access without long lines. The exhibition also offered new features, such as a free visitor’s booklet in French and English, which explained each work and kept traffic flowing smoothly throughout the exhibition space. Another booklet for families was also offered free of charge.
The Louvre opted to dedicate time slots to school groups, the disabled and the underprivileged on Tuesdays, the one day a week the museum is closed, to offer these populations special access to the works. Some 85 groups benefited from this.
Friends of the Louvre reported a 10.7% increase in subscriptions. Several evenings were reserved for them and a special reservation system was set up accordingly. Some 50,000 members visited the show.
Book sales also reported record-breaking numbers, with close to 50,000 copies of the catalogue already sold (when it was released, it was number 1 among art books and number 3 overall on Amazon). Lastly, more than 10,000 copies of the Léonard2Vinci comic strip by Stéphane Levallois (joint publication Musée du Louvre éditions / Futuropolis) were sold.
A SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE
At the end of the exhibition, Mona Lisa: Beyond the glass, the first virtual reality experience ever offered by the museum, developed in partnership with HTC Vive, allowed some 80,000 visitors to see the Mona Lisa like never before. This experience is now available for free on smartphones, via Google Play Store and the Apple Store, under the name of “VR – Mona Lisa”. It is also downloadable on virtual reality platforms for those equipped with a viewer. Lastly, it may be viewed in the Microfolies network and offered in many countries through the catalogue of the Institut Français.
Download the application:
- App Store: http://bit.ly/JocondeVRApp
- Google Play Store: http://bit.ly/JocondeVRGoo
THE PODCAST
“Quand la peinture raconte Léonard” (When paintings speak of Leonardo da Vinci) a series of five episodes by Caroline Langlois, with contributions by Vincent Delieuvin and Louis Frank, the curators of the exhibition, has already been listened to close to 22,500 times. It was conceived around the masterpieces of the Renaissance master that are housed in the Louvre. It allows you to navigate the museum galleries while listening to stories told by visitors and curators, who separate myth from reality. Discover or rediscover them on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Soundcloud or Deezer here.
EXTENDING THE LIFE OF THE EXHIBITION
- All the resources realized for the occasion of the exhibition are available on the Louvre’s website: the podcast, the video presentation of the exhibition by curators in the Louvre auditorium, virtual reality experiences, conferences and colloquia, information about films and publications: https://www.louvre.fr/leonard-de-vinci-ressources
- Coming soon to a theater near you
The Musée du Louvre and Pathé Live have joined forces for the exclusive worldwide release of a filmed private visit of the exhibition: “A Night at the Louvre, Leonardo da Vinci". Filmed especially for cinemas, this guided visit led by the curators of the show is a unique opportunity to contemplate the most beautiful works of the artist. This event will prolong the life of this special exhibition by bringing it to an even broader audience in France and around the world.
Special showings will be held in cinemas from September 16 to 22, 2020.
Tickets go on sale March 5, 2020 on www.pathelive.com
ABOUT THE « LEONARDO DA VINCI » EXHIBITION
On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci in France, this important retrospective was dedicated to the entire career of the painter. The fruit of more than ten years’ work by curators Vincent Delieuvin and Louis Frank, the exhibition gathered more than 160 works (paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculptures, objets d’art) from the most prestigious European and American institutions around the Louvre’s own collection (five paintings—the most in the world, with the Mona Lisa remaining in the Salle des Etats—and 22 drawings). The exhibition was a unique opportunity to come and admire 11 paintings by the artist (out of fewer than 20 that experts attribute to him) next to a selection of his most stunning drawings and most important scientific manuscripts.
