Impressionists score huge hit for National Galleries

THE National Galleries of Scotland has scored one of its biggest ever hits - with a blockbuster exhibition devoted to the Impressionist artists.

• Summer sensation: Clare McCormack admires a pair of Monets at the exhibition. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

Almost 100,000 art-lovers - some 20,000 more than official targets - flocked to see masterpieces by the likes of Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Manet and Sisley at the Royal Scottish Academy building on Edinburgh's Princes Street.

About 1,250 people a day on average were lured in to see more than 100 works featured in the exhibition, Impressionist Gardens.

And it has now become the third most successful exhibition ever for the Galleries - after a Monet exhibition seven years ago and one devoted to Ron Mueck in 2006.

The bumper visitors numbers have emerged weeks after Kelvingrove Gallery in Glasgow broke its all-time attendance record with an exhibition devoted to the "Glasgow Boys" painters, which attracted more than 120,000 visitors.

The Lewis Chessmen exhibition at the National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, over the summer attracted 68,402 visitors, more than double its target figure of 30,000.

Some 40 galleries around the world, including Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and the Tate in London loaned works to the Impressionists exhibition. The show, which ran from 31 July to 17 October, explored how the Impressionists and those who followed them in Europe and the United States used and featured gardens in their works.

Gallery officials ordered extended opening hours for the RSA building over its final weekend to help meet demand for tickets. The total was 99,509. compared with 173,000 for Monet: the Seine and the Sea, and 111,471 for Meuck.

John Leighton, director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: "We are absolutely delighted by the way that the public has responded.

"The high volume of visitors to ambitious exhibitions such as the Glasgow Boys at Kelvingrove and Impressionist Gardens here is not only a sign of a vibrant cultural life, it is also good news for our economy at a time when we must do all we can to boost revenues from tourism."

The exhibition has curated by Michael Clarke, director of the National Gallery of Scotland, and Dr Clare Willsdon, an art history expert at Glasgow University.

Mr Clarke said: "We are thrilled by the success of this international hit show which was created entirely here in Scotland."

Sinead Feltoe, VisitScotland's regional director for Edinburgh, said: "Tourism has the potential to lead economic growth in Edinburgh and beyond and this stunning exhibition has undoubtedly helped maintain the city's position on the international stage, attracting visitors from across the world as well as 'staycationers'."