Munch Exhibition at Didrichsen Art Museum, Finland, Attracts 70 000 Visitors

PRESS RELEASE 2 February 2015 For public release

Munch exhibition at Didrichsen Art Museum, Finland, attracts 70 000 visitors

Attendance figures for the Didrichsen Art Museum’s Edvard Munch Dance of Life exhibition were an all-time record. By the time it closed on Sunday, February 1st, it had been visited by 69 200 people during the past five months. In January alone it was seen by nearly 30 000 people. 2014 was also a record breaking year as the Helsinki Kuusisaari museum only reopened after extensive renovations in June. Over 48 700 visitors in just six months!

Normally about 30 000 people visit the museum each year. The last record was for an exhibition of Finnish artist Elin Danielson-Gambogi (1861-1919) in 2007 when over 46 000 people visited the museum.

”We more than doubled our goal of 30 000 visitors. I’ve been delighted to see how Munch’s timeless art appealed to people all over Finland and also gathered visitors from abroad. Many visited our museum for the first time and I believe the Munch success will boost attendance at future exhibitions”, says chief curator Maria Didrichsen.

“As the museum is rather small people had to queue to get in. During the cold spell we were offering them hot drinks to keep their spirits up.”

On average, the exhibition attracted 530 visitors a day. It’s also been a record time for guided tours – no less than 650 in the Munch exhibition!

Didrichsen’s attendance figures for only six months also stand comparison to other slightly larger art venues in Helsinki. Kunsthalle Helsinki was visited by almost 60 700 people in 2014 and the Amos Anderson Art Museum by over 42 500.

This is the first time in fifteen years that Finland has hosted an exhibition of the world famous Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944). The more than 50 works on show were mainly oil paintings but there were also examples of his graphic art. Most of the oils came from the Stenersen Collection in the Munch Museum in Norway.

Didrichsen’s next exhibition The Mandolin Man’s Journey, opening on February 28th, 2015, will be a retrospective of the Kuopio painter-sculptor Pauno Pohjolainen (born 1949). The museum will also be celebrating its 50th anniversary in September 2015.

Kuusilahdenkuja 1 Granviksgränd 1 Tel: 010 2193 970 IBAN FI79-1023 3000 2167 59 FIN-00340 HELSINKI 00340 HELSINGFORS Tel Int: +358 10 2193 970 www.didrichsenmuseum.fi PRESS RELEASE 2 February 2015 For public release

DIDRICHSEN ART MUSEUM

Address: Kuusilahdenkuja 1, Helsinki, Finland Contacts: office (at) didrichsenmuseum.fi, tel. +358 10 2193 970

Website: www.didrichsenmuseum.fi Facebook: www.facebook.com/DidrichsenArtMuseum Twitter: https://twitter.com/DidMuseum Instagram: http://instagram.com/didrichsenartmuseum

FOR THE MEDIA

Contacts: Maria Didrichsen, Didrichsen Art Museum, tel. +358 40 552 1000, maria (at) didrichsenmuseum.fi Photographs: http://holvi.artstudio.fi/didrichsen (user ID didrichsen, password pressi)

Kuusilahdenkuja 1 Granviksgränd 1 Tel: 010 2193 970 IBAN FI79-1023 3000 2167 59 FIN-00340 HELSINKI 00340 HELSINGFORS Tel Int: +358 10 2193 970 www.didrichsenmuseum.fi