Record numbers

The museum receives 295.655 visitors in 2012

With more than 295,655 visitors in 2012, the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum has achieved record numbers for the year. This figure surpasses the previous record of 259,968 visitors achieved in 2011.

This sizeable increase in numbers can partly be accounted for by two exceptional exhibitions:

Firstly, the retrospective devoted to the painter Antonio López, which opened on 10 October 2011 in the BBK Gallery at the Museum as the result of a collaborative project between the Museum and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. The exhibition was also outstandingly successful in Madrid, with 317,977 visitors. In Bilbao, the 209,531 people who saw it made it the most visited exhibition in the Museum’s history and it was consequently extended until 29 January 2012. The previous record for visitor numbers at the Museum was for Sorolla. Vision of Spain. Collection of the Hispanic Society of America, which received 154,009 visitors.

Secondly, Fernando Botero: Celebration topped 156,646 visitors, making it the second most-visited exhibition ever in the history of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum after Antonio López, and just ahead of Sorolla: A Vision of Spain.

Showing works by two masters still actively producing art and who remain great favourites with the general public, the Antonio López and Fernando Botero exhibitions have been decisive in the significant increase in visitor levels and the subsequent new records set by the Museum in 2011 (259,968) and 2012 (295,655). Both shows were made possible by generous sponsorship from BBK Fundazioa, which provides sustained backing for the Museum’s main exhibition programme.

Most popular exhibitions

Antonio López
209.531 visitors (10|10|11 • 01|29|12)

Fernando Botero. Celebration
166.646 visitors (10|08|12 • 01|20|13)    

Sorolla. Vision of Spain. Collection of the Hispanic Society of America
154.009 visitors (10|13|08 • 02|01|09)