This makes Vermeer the most visited exhibition in the history of the Rijksmuseum. By extending the opening hours until 11 pm, it was possible to receive more than 650,000 visitors. In the whole of 2022, the Rijksmuseum welcomed 1,760,000 visitors.
In order to offer the audience as pleasant a visit as possible, the number of people in the exhibition was limited. Before the fair opened on February 10, 200,000 tickets had already been sold out. On the second day of the fair, all available tickets were sold out. After that it was very difficult to get tickets. Before the fair, the plan was for it to remain open until 10 p.m. That was later moved to 11 p.m. On the fair’s last weekend (June 2+3), the closing time was extended further from 11pm to 2am. This allowed an additional 2,600 people to visit the fair.
The majority of visitors (55%) came from the Netherlands. This is also special because, on average, the museum attracts more foreign visitors in a “normal” year. (63% visited abroad in 2022). Of the foreign visitors, 17% came from France, 17% from Germany and 16% from the UK.
Lots of media attention
The show’s great success is due in part to the relevant media interest and publications. More details about the exhibition’s background were touched upon.
- The Rijksmuseum contributed to the TV programme New Vermeer (NPO1/Omroep Max, averaging over 1.2 million viewers) Submitted by Dionne Stax.
- Two documentaries have been made about the exhibition. Director Susan Rice followed for her film near Vermeer Preparations for the exhibition and in the series gallery on screen Vermeer appeared: The biggest show.
- the site Closer to Johannes Vermeer With Stephen Fry and Joy Dillema it has been visited 800,000 times and awarded twice Webby Awards and the Golden European Design Award.
- The Rijksmuseum Melvin has published a podcast on Vermeer, Camera Obscura and Faith And The life and work of Vermeer, in which presenter Janine Abring speaks with curators Gregor J.M. Weber and Peter Roelofs. the ring The life and work of Vermeer is the Rijksmuseum’s most listened-to podcast of all time (over 27,000 downloads).
- The Rijksmuseum has published the online course Vermeer, in which presenter Ozkan Akyol brings to life the most beautiful details with Gregor JM Weber and Peter Roelofs.
Source and more information: www.rijksmuseum.nl
