The Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid attracted 3.9 million people last year (up 16% on 2023)
Photo: Ekaterina Belova
From breaking news and insider insights to exhibitions and events around the world, the team at The Art Newspaper picks apart the art world’s big stories with the help of special guests. An award-winning podcast hosted by Ben Luke.
The Art Newspaper’s annual report on museum visitor figures is out and shows that the slow build-back after the Covid-19 closures is over, and museums are back at what we might consider their “natural level”. The Week in Art’s host Ben Luke talks to the co-editor of our report, Lee Cheshire, about what that means, and who last year’s big winners and losers were.
An installation view of Morris Mania: How Britain’s greatest designer went viral with exhibits including a seat from HMS Valiant (S102), a British nuclear submarine (far left wall, centre) and a jacket worn by George Harrison (far right mannequin, featuring orange floral patterning)
Photo: Nicola Tree © William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest
A new exhibition at the museum in the former London home of the 19th-century designer, socialist activist and writer William Morris looks at his ubiquity in the 21st century. Our associate digital editor, Alexander Morrison, visits Morris Mania: How Britain’s greatest designer went viral and talks to the William Morris Gallery’s director Hadrian Garrard.
Henri Matisse, Margeurite (1907-8)
Photo: RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / René-Gabriel Ojeda
And this episode’s Work of the Week is a painting made in the winter of 1906 to 1907 by Henri Matisse. It depicts his daughter, Marguerite, and is a highlight of an exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris called Matisse and Marguerite: Through her Father’s Eyes. Ben Luke discusses the painting and its subject with Charlotte Barat-Mabille, one of the curators of the show.
Exhibitions editor José da Silva breaks down the results from our Visitor Figures 2020 survey and digital expert Chris Unitt explains how museums have pivoted to digital
A chat with the curator of a new show featuring Monet's Thames views—in the very room where many were painted, plus trips to Basel and Florence for 'Matisse: Invitation to the Voyage' and 'Helen Frankenthaler: Painting without Rules'
Plus, we speak to the artist Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir, who will be representing Iceland in Venice next year, and pick a work from the Matisse show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York