Reports of blockbuster show’s death are premature as Tate’s Kahlo show breaks ticket ticket record | Exhibitions

WWhen the Tate Modern announced a major exhibition dedicated to Frida Kahlo, no one doubted that it would be popular. The Mexican artist has become one of the world’s most recognizable cultural figures, with her image adorning everything from tote bags to T-shirts.

But even Tate wasn’t prepared for the scale of the demand. More than 41,000 tickets have already been sold for the exhibition Frida: The Making of an Icon, which opens on June 25, making it the highest-grossing pre-sale exhibition in the Tate’s history, surpassing the previous record of 32,000 pre-sale tickets set by David Hockney in 2017, the gallery said.

“We were absolutely blown away by this,” Katherine Wood, interim director of the Tate Modern, told The Guardian.

The enthusiasm surrounding Kahlo is not an isolated phenomenon. As the British Museum prepares for the arrival of the Bayeux Tapestry, and other galleries line up exhibitions dedicated to artists including Monet, Hockney, Renoir and Nan Goldin, British museums appear to be witnessing the return of the blockbuster exhibition – despite fears that the pandemic has radically changed audience habits.

“I think the predictions about the decline of blockbusters have been proven wrong,” Wood said. “We see them as trust builders, so that audiences will also come to our free shows and discover great artists they may not know. We’re always trying to think about how to organize these shows in ways that speak to the next generation and contemporary issues.”

The Bayeux Tapestry, which will be on display in London from September 10, is expected to rank among the most requested exhibitions in the history of the British Museum, with the museum already describing it as “the exhibition of the century”.

Demand for pre-sale tickets was so high this week that members faced hours-long queues and the museum’s website crashed, leading to comparisons on social media to a stampede for Glastonbury tickets.

A British Museum spokesman said it was “the most popular first day of sales for any exhibition held by the museum”.

At the National Gallery, Van Gogh’s final exhibition became the institution’s most popular exhibition ever. The fair attracted 334,589 visits and remained open through the night on a recent weekend to meet demand.

Museums increasingly believe that the appeal of major exhibitions extends beyond the artists themselves. In the age of streaming, social media and digital reproduction, institutions say visitors place enormous value on seeing original works in person.

“You can find pictures of Frida online or in books, but people want to be in the room with the original painting that this person painted,” Wood said. “Human beings love rituals and being part of something collective, and today there are very few points of not only shared faith but shared cultural experience.

“Frida Kahlo represented many things to many different people. Her feminism, her fluid gender identity, her love of life with men and women, her boldness in revealing her disability and the way she styled herself. Her story resonates with the life experiences of many different people.”

Wood said Kahlo’s continued popularity also reflects a broader search for figures who ring true in an age of political and cultural uncertainty.

“People look for forms of continuity and stability, for personalities who are bold in owning their life experience. Even though her life was full of traumas and disappointments, she showed a way to live, survive and thrive.”

The National Gallery echoed this view, saying it would be encouraging to believe that the popularity of major exhibitions reflects a deeper public hunger for community-based cultural experiences.

Museums remain under pressure from rising costs and limited public funding, making successful exhibitions increasingly important sources of income and membership growth. A National Gallery spokesperson said: “We are all facing widely reported financial challenges, so exhibitions of all kinds, along with many other initiatives, are important to us all.”

“Absolutely,” Wood said when asked if major exhibitions were important to the Tate’s funds. “Half of our audience are members, and their loyalty is very important to the Tate economy.”

There is even a bit of “healthy competition” between galleries vying for blockbuster exhibition audiences. “The more great shows we all have, the greater the audience for art will be,” Wood said.

Other exhibitions drawing crowds at the Tate include Tracey Emin’s current exhibition, Second Life, which has attracted 234,000 visitors since it opened in February and still has more than two months to run. “Tracey Emin went above and beyond what we expected in terms of visitor numbers. And like Frida, people were really touched by the sheer honesty of her work,” Wood said.

The Tate also has high hopes for an exhibition about 1990s art and fashion, curated by former Vogue editor Edward Enninful, which it expects to attract a wide range of audiences increasingly nostalgic for our recent “offline” era when it opens in October.

However, the resurgence of these blockbusters is occurring against a more complex backdrop. The total number of visitors across Britain’s attractions remains below pre-pandemic levels, suggesting that while audiences may not have fully returned, they are increasingly willing to take part in major cultural events.

Bernard Donoghue, director of the Association of Leading Tourist Attractions, said visitor numbers for his members were still 7% below 2019 levels. “The post-pandemic recovery has not yet been fully achieved,” he said. “But there is room for optimism. In the years immediately following lockdown, there was understandable caution about returning to crowded spaces. Now, the fear of missing out is back with a vengeance.

“We have seen the extraordinary success of Van Gogh at the National Gallery, Marie Antoinette at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Elegance at the King’s Gallery, which sold out and have now been extended due to unprecedented demand. It shows that the right story, well told and capturing the public’s imagination, can fascinate and interest audiences.”