It’s going to be a hard one to top. The Monet in Full Light (‘Monet en pleine lumière’) exhibition at the Grimaldi Forum has set a new attendance record with historically high visitor numbers. So what’s up next on the calendar and how will they compare?
The Monet in Full Light exhibition closed its doors on the evening of Sunday 3rd September after two full months at the Grimaldi Forum.
“It’s a record,” says Sylvie Biancheri, General Director of the Grimaldi Forum. “Relative to the number of days open, it is the most visited exhibition at the Grimaldi Forum with 120,000 attendees. We can be proud of such a result and I would like to commend the tremendous work carried out by all our teams.”
The visitors
An average of 2,000 people visited the exhibition daily, with peaks of up to 4,000 people at the end of the exhibition “when word of mouth had spread”. The majority, 80%, of visitors were from Monaco and France, but they also came from abroad, with mainly Europeans at the forefront, including 10% Italians, lured by Claude Monet’s paintings of Bordighera and Dolceacqua.
For Francesco Grosoli, CEO of CMB Monaco, the official and long-time partner of the Grimaldi Forum, “This exhibition will remain engraved in people’s memories. Its quality reflected our ambition in terms of patronage and that of contributing ever more to the cultural influence of the Principality.”
Celebrating Monet’s love of the Riviera
Inaugurated on 6th July by Prince Albert II of Monaco, the Monet in Full Light exhibition ran from 8th July to 3rd September. Marking the 140th anniversary of Claude Monet’s first stopover in Monte-Carlo and the French Riviera, it offered a new look at the work of the Master through a tour of nearly 100 paintings from all over the world.
Curated by Marianne Mathieu, a Claude Monet specialist, the exhibition provided the keys to better understanding the painter’s quest to paint light through an exceptional scenography over 2,500 square metres. It was one of the most important exhibitions dedicated to Claude Monet of this decade, and undoubtedly also the most daring, with masterpieces rarely revealed together – and one previously unpublished.
It was produced by the Grimaldi Forum Monaco, with the support of the Marmottan Monet Museum in Paris, and also brought together more than 30 lenders. It was backed by CMB Monaco, Sotheby’s and the Marzocco Group.
A responsible exhibition
In the process of obtaining ISO 20121 certification, the reference standard for sustainable events, the Grimaldi Forum Monaco this year went even further, working in collaboration with transport company André Chenue to reduce the ecological impact of the exhibition. Cashier systems were redesigned, air deliveries consolidated, and a new fuel solution was used for road freight. It produced impressive results for a first approach: more than 20% emissions savings were achieved, equal to around 30 tonnes less CO2.
As part of the Grimaldi Forum’s CSR policy, the exhibition was also an opportunity to welcome solidarity associations such as Les Enfants de Frankie with CMB Monaco and Fight Aids Monaco, as well as organising visits for visually impaired or blind audiences with Valentin Haüy and Arrimage.
FUTURE SUMMER EXHIBITIONS REVEALED
In a surprising move, the Grimaldi Forum Monaco on Tuesday not only revealed the theme of next year’s summer exhibition, it has divulged the next three summer exhibitions. They are William J.M. Turner, the sublime legacy, organised with the TATE museum in 2024, Colours, the masterpieces of the Centre Pompidou in 2025, and Monaco and the Automobile in 2026.
Stay tuned to Monaco Life for more details!
To see more of this year’s Monet in Full Light exhibition, click on our Instagram video below…
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Photo by Monaco Life