THE number of visitors to Tate Modern has dropped to its lowest level for 10 years, with a fall of almost 20%.
The riverside gallery, in the former Bankside power station on the south bank of the Thames, had 4.71m visitors in 2015, well down on 2014, according to figures expected from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions this week.
It is the lowest number since 2005. Despite several exhibitions that drew critical acclaim last year — such as those of works by the sculptor Alexander Calder, by the abstract painter Agnes Martin and by Sonia Delaunay, a pioneer of Orphism, an offshoot of Cubism — the gallery had no blockbuster events.
It is expected, however, that visitor numbers will improve this year thanks to an exhibition of the American artist Georgia O’Keeffe starting in July and the opening in June of the Tate Modern extension . This will hold works from Latin America and Asia as well as the gallery’s photographic collection.
Tate insists that it “remains the world’s most popular gallery of modern and contemporary art”.
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It said that its four galleries — Tate Modern, Tate Britain at Millbank, central London, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives in Cornwall — drew a total of 6.8m visitors last year.
The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square is also expected to report a fall in visitor numbers for last year.
Despite popular exhibitions such as Inventing Impressionism and Goya , visitor figures were hit by closures as security guards went on strike.