THE NATIONAL Gallery of Australia today announced that “Turner from the Tate: The Making of a Master” attracted 153,627 visitors from all over Australia to Canberra, bringing the total number of visitors to the Gallery’s two major exhibitions this year to 323,828.
The exhibition closed on September 15, after having been extended for an additional week, allowing many more people to visit.
Director of the NGA, Ron Radford, said today that almost 70 per cent of the 153,627 visitors who came to see Turner’s works had travelled from interstate and injected an estimated $34 million into the ACT economy.
“We have never before held back-to-back blockbuster exhibitions,” Mr Radford added. “It has been a challenging but rewarding experience for the Gallery and we are pleased that it has benefited Canberra’s economy. We’re also very pleased that the cold weather did not discourage people from visiting Canberra to see ‘Turner from the Tate’.”
The exhibition of over 110 works presented an overview of Turner’s monumental landscapes and atmospheric, light-filled seascapes, while offering insights into his working life and practice.
The Turner from the Tate Family Activity Room proved extremely popular with 11 per cent of attendees visiting the room, located inside the exhibition, which was designed to reflect the effects of light and colour central to Turner’s practice as an artist.
Educational activities for 3-12 year olds included creating land and seascapes using a variety of media including crayons, brushes and iPad apps. The National Gallery of Australia today thanked the Yulgilbar Foundation for its support of the Family Activity Room.
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