Thumbs up for the Van Gogh Museum! A recent study carried out by the Erasmus University in Rotterdam found that the reputation of the Van Gogh Museum is the second best in the world. For this study, the Erasmus University examined the reputation of the world’s 18 best-known art museums. Big winner according to the study is, not surprisingly, The Louvre in Paris. The Rijksmuseum, which is the best-visited museum in Amsterdam, came in third according to the study. The final score of all 18 examined museums looks as follows:
- Musée du Louvre, Paris – 84.3
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam – 81.9
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam – 81.7
- State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg – 81.4
- British Museum, London – 80.8
- Musée d’Orsay, Paris – 80.6
- Vatican Museums, Vatican City – 80.4
- Museo del Prado, Madrid – 80.0
- National Gallery, London – 79.5
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York – 79.3
- National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. – 79.1
- Tate Modern, London – 78.9
- Museum of Modern Art, New York – 78.4
- Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris – 78.4
- Reina Sofia, Madrid – 78.2
- National Art Center, Tokyo – 77.5
- Shanghai Museum, Shanghai – 75.0
- Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro – 74.4
Remarkably enough when the ratings were divided by continent, the reputation of the Van Gogh Museum in Asia came no further than a 15th spot on the list. In Europe however, the reputation of the museum was perceived best of all examined museums. Another interesting find from the study was that the Shanghai Museum and Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil were the only museums that didn’t benefit from feelings of patriotism and were rated better by foreigners. All other museums benefited from patriotism in the measurement of their reputation. Russians turned out to be the most patriotic respondents in their perception of State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
In the video below Professor Cees van Riel is being interviewed on his findings: