The Domestic Exhibition 'Picasso Birth 140th Anniversary Special Exhibition' Held This Year Was the Most Viewed

'Massacre in Korea' (1951) by Pablo Picasso, displayed at the 'Picasso 140th Birth Anniversary Special Exhibition' held at Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] This year, the most popular exhibition among domestic visitors was the 'Picasso 140th Birth Anniversary Special Exhibition.'

Interpark revealed on the 22nd the ranking of the most popular exhibitions based on the number of visitors from January 1 to the 12th of this year. The first place was the 'Picasso 140th Birth Anniversary Special Exhibition,' which opened on May 1 and ran until August 29 at the Hangaram Art Museum in the Seoul Arts Center, Seocho-gu, Seoul. This exhibition was the first in Korea to showcase the collection of the National Picasso Museum in Paris, featuring over 110 masterpieces including paintings, sculptures, prints, and ceramics. It was a monumental exhibition that allowed visitors to see all aspects of Picasso's art at a glance, including the commemorative 'Massacre in Korea,' which came to Korean soil for the first time in 70 years since its completion in 1951. It received balanced love from all age groups.

The second place went to 'Light Bunker: Monet, Renoir... Chagall,' held at the Light Bunker in Seongsan, Jeju, from April 23 this year until February 28, 2022. This exhibition is a media art that immerses visitors in the works and music of masters the moment they enter the exhibition hall.

The third place was taken by 'teamLab: LIFE,' held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, from September 25 last year to August 22 this year. teamLab is an art collective formed in 2001 by artists, programmers, engineers, computer graphics (CG) animators, mathematicians, and architects from various nationalities and fields. What sets this exhibition apart from simple media art is that it does not play pre-recorded videos but moves in response to visitors' movements through computer programming, so every visitor sees a different version of the work. The previous exhibition, themed 'LIFE,' captivated visitors with intense and overwhelming visual effects, making them 'light-stunned' and 'flower-stunned,' prompting reflection on the beauty and wonder of life. The visitor demographic was mainly young, with 49.8% in their 20s and 27.9% in their 30s.

Following were 4th place 'Yoshiko Photo Exhibition: Records of Warm Holidays,' 5th place '100th Anniversary Excavation Special Exhibition Tutankhamun: Secrets of the Pharaoh,' 6th place 'Alice Dalton Brown,' 7th place 'Beyond Road,' 8th place 'Salvador Dal? Exhibition,' 9th place 'iMuseum Digital Masterpieces (The Magician of Color: Henri Matisse),' and 10th place 'Faces of the Era, from Shakespeare to Ed Sheeran.'

This year, the overall gender ratio of exhibition ticket buyers was 78.7% female and 21.3% male, showing a significantly higher proportion of women. Among the top 10 popular exhibitions, the 'Alice Dalton Brown' exhibition at My Art Museum, which ran until November 7, had the highest female visitor ratio at 87.1%. The 'Yoshiko Photo Exhibition: Records of Warm Holidays' followed with 84.7%. Both exhibitions, featuring hyperrealistic painting styles that captured light and wind on canvas to evoke a refreshing feeling as if visiting a resort, and recording travel destinations worldwide as the title suggests, gained explosive popularity by quenching the thirst for travel during the COVID-19 pandemic when overseas travel was impossible. Both exhibitions were the artists' first solo exhibitions in Korea and share the commonality of being living artists. Among exhibitions favored by male ticket buyers, 'Beyond Road' accounted for 29.1%, 'Light Bunker: Monet, Renoir... Chagall' 27.9%, and 'teamLab: LIFE' 24.9%.

The average age distribution of exhibition ticket buyers this year was 20s (40.1%), 30s (34.0%), 40s (17.7%), 50s and above (6.8%), and teens (1.3%). Looking at the age group distribution of the top 10 popular exhibitions, those with the highest preference among people in their 20s were 'Yoshiko Photo Exhibition,' 'Beyond Road,' 'teamLab,' 'Salvador Dal? Exhibition,' and 'Alice Dalton Brown.' Exhibitions most favored by people in their 30s were 'iMuseum Digital Masterpieces (The Magician of Color: Henri Matisse),' 'Light Bunker,' and 'Picasso 140th Birth Anniversary Special Exhibition.' The only exhibition most favored by people in their 40s was the '100th Anniversary Excavation Special Exhibition Tutankhamun: Secrets of the Pharaoh.'

Like popular musicals, many visitors attended the same exhibition multiple times, known as 'N-times viewing.' Among the top 24 exhibitions, 96.2% of visitors attended once, while 3.8% re-visited two or more times. Among those who re-visited, 98% attended 2 to 3 times. Many visitors booked 4 to 9 re-visits for the 'Picasso 140th Birth Anniversary Special Exhibition,' 'Alice Dalton Brown,' and 'Faces of the Era, from Shakespeare to Ed Sheeran.'

Lee Choong-woo, head of Interpark's exhibition business team, explained, "This year, we received high responses by showcasing large-scale exhibitions of original works by legendary painters like Picasso and Chagall, as well as surrealist artists such as Salvador Dal?, Marcel Duchamp, and Ren? Magritte. Photo exhibitions like Yoshiko's or those capturing travel destinations worldwide, like Wes Anderson by chance, quenched the thirst for overseas travel and gained great popularity among young people."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.