Beyoncé and Jay-Z Made People Want To Visit The Louvre Again
Did you really go to Paris if you didn’t look at the Mona Lisa and gorge on croissants, red wine, and brie? Apparently people have been focusing on the latter three and less on the Mona Lisa! Actually, tourism to Paris has been down since the 2015 terrorist attacks. Sure, the Louvre is still the world’s most-visited museum, but the numbers could have been better. Have no fear, y’all! Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and the Beyhive are here to save the day.
Bey and Jay filmed the video for “Apeshit” last summer at the Louvre, and The Guardian says the video is driving people to visit the museum and piss off museum employees with stupid questions like, “Can you take my picture while I thrust against this painting just like Bey did?” A whopping 10.2 million people visited the Louvre in 2018, which is a 25% rise from the prior year. 2012 was the second-highest year for attendance, which is when 9.7 million people elbowed each other and later told their friends how disappointingly small the Mona Lisa was.
The Louvre gets more visitors than the National Museum of China and New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it is the return of international tourists that are driving the figures. Nearly 75% of visitors to the Louvre come from outside France, and more than half of all the visitors are under 30 – thanks Bey and Jay! The museum’s operators aren’t stupid, so they’re offering tours that take people to all the pieces of art featured in “Apeshit,” including the Mona Lisa and The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon and the Coronation of Empress Joséphine. Louvre Director Jean Luc-Martinez is happy the video, viewed 150 million times and counting, is bringing people to his museum:
“It’s clear that 2018 was a remarkable year for the international reputation of the Louvre.The Beyoncé video, like the opening of theLouvre museum in Dubai, ensured that the Louvre was talked about across the world, and one of the consequences of that is the spectacular rise in visitor numbers last year.”
That’s good news for museums, but that’s crappy news for all of us. Now every museum in the world is going to start courting pop stars to film inside, and we’re going to have to start getting a history lesson when all we want is to see Britney Spears do is objectify hot back-up dancers and make them flaunt their man nips!
Pic: YouTube