VANCOUVER, BC.- The most successful exhibition in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s history, Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art closed Sunday, September 16th with a record day’s attendance of more than 7600 visitors, bringing the total number of people to see the blockbuster exhibition to more than 220,0000. The previous record attendance for an exhibition at the Gallery was in 2002, when 95,000 people viewed the summer exhibition Carr, O'Keeffe, Kahlo: Places of Their Own.

“This is an amazing vote of confidence from the city and beyond for the Gallery’s ambitious programming. We believe Vancouver deserves the best the art world has to offer and we will continue to present it here, whether it is the finest examples of historical art or the most exciting offerings of the contemporary art world,” said Vancouver Art Gallery director Kathleen Bartels. “It is wonderful to know that we have such incredible support from the community as we confidently move ahead with plans for exciting future exhibitions and projects.”

The Gallery’s attendance revenue has risen steadily since the appointment of Kathleen Bartels to the position of director in 2001. Last year, the Gallery realized its most successful year to date with $1.96 million in admissions revenue. In 2007, the Gallery projects attendance revenue of more than $3.5 million.

Monet to Dalí was the most comprehensive showing of European painting and sculpture in Canada this summer. The exhibition opened June 11, 2007 and included paintings by such masters as Cézanne, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, Picasso, Seurat and van Gogh, representing the largest showing of European art ever presented in Vancouver.

The Vancouver Art Gallery will present Georgia O’Keeffe: Nature and Abstraction, the first Canadian solo exhibition of paintings by O’Keeffe in 50 years, from October 6, 2007 to January 13, 2008; Roy Arden, the first major Canadian retrospective of work by the internationally renowned Vancouver artist, from October 20, 2007 to January 20, 2008; and Mark Lewis: Modern Time a selection of the London-based Canadian artist’s short films, from October 13, 2007 to January 6, 2008.