© Hanako Kuga
It's official: The Art Newspaper recently announced Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s eccentric "Infinite Obsession” show as the most visited exhibition of 2014. The 86-year-old’s signature polka-dotted sculptures and mirror installations proved a huge draw – with up to 9,000 visitors flocking to her touring exhibition a day.
Beating industry heavyweights in the likes of Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst, Kusama’s hyperbolic installation was seen by more than 2 million people as it went on tour to South and Central America.
“Kusama is the only one of our artists who sells on every continent," Glenn Scott Wright, co-director of Victoria Miro (the gallery that represents the artist in the UK) said. "She’s very rare in that she has this kind of credibility within the art world establishment, but she also has a very broad popular appeal."
Top 10 Museums Rated by Exhibitions Attendance:
1. Louvre, Paris: 9,260,000
2. British Museum, London: 6,695,213
3. National Gallery, London: 6,416,724
4. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: 6,162,147
5. Vatican Museums, Vatican City: 5,891,332
6. Tate Modern, London: 5,785,427
7. National Palace Museum, Taipei: 5,402,325
8. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC: 3,892,459
9. National Museum of Korea, Seoul: 3,536,677
10. Musée d’Orsay, Paris: 3,500,000