Hasta La Ideas

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is on a roll. Having raised the standards for design exhibitions to a stunning new high with “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,” which has been extended through August 7, the New York institution has announced that 5.68 million people visited the Met during the fiscal year that ended on June 30. The number, which includes attendance at The Cloisters, is the highest recorded in 40 years and an increase of more than 400,000 over the 2010 fiscal year. The McQueen exhibition has welcomed more than 500,000 visitors since its May 4 opening. Last summer’s Picasso exhibition and “Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof: Big Bambú” were also big hits, drawing 703,256 visitors and 631,064 visitors, respectively. Meanwhile, traffic to the museum’s website reached 47 million visitors, a 17.5% increase over the previous fiscal year. “We are delighted by this extraordinary response to our collections and programs, especially in the context of ongoing fiscal challenges faced by both the Museum and the public,” said Thomas P. Campbell, director and CEO of the Met in a statement released late yesterday. “There is something for everyone within our galleries, and I have no doubt that we will continue to give audiences reasons to keep returning again and again.”

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