BASEL.- A total of 369,787 art-lovers visited the “Paul Gauguin” exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler. To mark the exhibition’s close, a concert with the renowned Boston Symphonic Youth Orchestra was held in the museum and, in addition, young people under the age of 25 were given free admission during an evening extension to normal opening hours. Almost all the concerts, lectures and readings organised as part of the cultural programme that accompanied the exhibition were booked out; in all, they were attended by 4,499 people. Over 1,000 equally well attended guided tours and workshops were organised. 289 school classes of all levels had the pleasure of seeing the show. 61,232 visitors used the audio guides; the junior version that was offered for the first time – free of charge – was used by 2,313 children. 33,399 copies of the exhibition catalogue – which was published in three languages – and of the short companion publication were sold.

The 51 loans, which were organised over a period of six years, came from renowned museums and private collections including the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Tate in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, the Folkwang Museum in Essen, and the National Gallery in Prague. Gauguin’s greatest work D’où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous?, 1897/98, from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and six masterpieces from the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg were a particular sensation. By the time they reach home again, these works will together have travelled a distance equal to the circumference of the Earth at the equator. The loans’ insurance value amounted to more than CHF 2 billion.

The Paul Gauguin exhibition was made possible by the generous support of the Beyeler Foundation and the Hansjörg Wyss Foundation as well as the Walter Haefner Stiftung, the L. + Th. La Roche Stiftung, Novartis, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and Dr. Christoph M. and Sibylla M. Müller, kulturelles.bl, Swisslos Basel-Landschaft, Bundesamt für Kultur.

Sam Keller, the Fondation Beyeler’s Director, commented on the exhibition’s successful conclusion with some words from Paul Gauguin’s book Noa Noa: “Farewell, beautiful, hospitable land...” He went on to say “Our museum is very happy to have been able to make this wonderful artist accessible to a wide audience and to have made a contribution to the exploration and understanding of his influential work. We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to all lenders, patrons, sponsors, other partners, and the members of our staff, as well as to our suppliers, the authorities and the media for their generous support. The Paul Gauguin exhibition was an unforgettable adventure.”