NGV a popular gallery

The national gallery of Victoria has been announced as the most visited art gallery in Australia, and the 25th most popular worldwide.

The result was published by London’s The Art newspaper, in its annual survey of art gallery attendances around the world.

NGV Director Dr Gerard Vaughan was obviously delighted with the news and said the NGV was thrilled with the results of the attendance surveys.

“This ranking today confirms that Victorians, and our many visitors to Melbourne, appreciate both the NGV’s highly important permanent collection, and our strong exhibition program,” Dr Vaughan said.

Premier and Minister for the Arts Ted Baillieu said last year was a wonderful time for the gallery and this was an additional feat that it should be congratulated on.

“It celebrated its 150th anniversary, opened new spaces for children and for contemporary art, announced new acquisitions and hosted a stunning array of exhibitions with everything from German Expressionism to Melbourne’s street art,” Mr Baillieu said.

Mr Baillieu said it was a particularly noteworthy result considering Melbourne’s population compared to competing galleries cities.

“This is a fantastic achievement, especially when we consider that all the gallaries ranked ahead of the NGV, and many ranked lower, are in cities with more than 10 million people,” Mr Baillieu pointed out.

He added that the local community had a big say in these numbers, saying: “This means the NGV enjoys one of the highest community participation rates in the world, proving once again that Victorians are passionate about embracing the arts.”

Further proving the gallery’s popularity, internet giant Google has included NGV in its Google Art project.

The Art Project is in its second phase and gives online access to high-resolution images of artworks from galleries all over the world.

Dr Vaughan was thrilled that the NGV could share their pieces with an even bigger market space.

“This will provide important worldwide access to some of our greatest artworks.”