MILWAUKEE, WIS.- The Milwaukee Art Museum today released its final attendance numbers for its fiscal year, which ended August 31, 2012. Over 395,000 visitors entered the Museum’s galleries in 2011-2012, making it the third-highest attended year ever, behind 2002 and 2003 when the Calatrava-designed addition opened.

“We are pleased to see that the community and the region recognize what an extraordinary art museum and gathering place we have right here in Milwaukee,” said Daniel Keegan, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “And it’s thrilling to know that visitors from all fifty states and more than a dozen countries around the world travel to our Midwestern city to experience the beauty and splendor of this great Museum, its architecture, and its art.”

Keegan credits the boost in attendance to the feature exhibitions Impressionism: Masterworks on Paper, Accidental Genius: Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection, and Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and His Contemporaries. Additional exhibitions included Taryn Simon: Photographs and Texts, and the Kohl’s Education Center Gallery exhibition Animation: Art Goes to the Movies.

“The Museum continues to curate outstanding exhibitions that amaze and enchant,” said Keegan. “The summer blockbuster Posters of Paris welcomed 150,000 visitors. In all, thanks to our outstanding programs, events, exhibitions, and activities, the Museum dramatically exceeded its anticipated attendance goals.”

Keegan also credited the Museum’s success on the Target Free First Thursday program, which allows free access to the Museum for all visitors on the first Thursday of each month, and increased opportunities for families to visit.

“The opening of the new Kohl’s Education Center has resulted in significant increases in family attendance, family memberships, and new, interactive experiences for all visitors,” said Keegan. “Since our partnership with Kohl’s began, the Museum has doubled its number of visiting young art enthusiasts, from 15,000 in 2008, to 30,000 kids age 12 and younger visiting the Museum this past year.”