Rembrandt exhibit is drawing a crowd

At the halfway point of its 12-week run, "Rembrandt in America" has racked up some solid statistics.

Visitors have come to the N.C. Museum of Art to see it from all 50 states and the District of Columbia; from 95 out of 100 counties in North Carolina; and from 25 foreign countries, from Norway to Namibia.

Black Friday, Nov. 25, was the biggest day so far with more than 4,500 visitors - one of the museum's highest attendance days ever.

The one number that's not off the charts, however, is total attendance. Through Thursday, the exhibit had drawn 48,599 visitors (with about 7,000 more advance tickets sold). So if "Rembrandt in America" is to make NCMA director Larry Wheeler's attendance goal of 150,000 by the time it closes on Jan. 22, the pace will have to pick up.

Based on past history, that is likely to happen.

"It's always the last three weeks where we get stormed," said Caterri Woodrum, the museum's chief financial officer. "If it goes like it usually does, we'll have a huge uptick after Christmas with a disproportionate amount of attendance coming then."

Woodrum cites two recent exhibits for comparative purposes, "American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell" and "Monet in Normandy." Rockwell was at 37,000 visitors at this point last year, on the way to a total attendance of 106,000. Monet was up to 84,000 at this point in 2006 and eventually finished with 214,000.

If "Rembrandt in America" does reach 150,000, the exhibit will have turned a nice profit, which is important in this age of shrinking budgets. Woodrum said the break-even point is about 125,000 visitors.

"Anything upward of that, and we're all smiling," she said.

Given Rembrandt's stature, it might seem surprising that the museum expects "Rembrandt in America" to draw fewer visitors than the Monet exhibit. Partly, that's a function of the shaky overall economy. But it's also due to the nature of the work on display.

"Impressionist artwork tends to bring out the masses," Woodrum said. "Monet's name is no bigger than Rembrandt's, but his paintings are better-known. People recognize Rembrandt's name, but they might not be able to tell you what his paintings were."

Recognizing Rembrandt paintings is a major theme of "Rembrandt in America." The exhibit includes such iconic works as "Lucretia," but also numerous paintings once thought to be by the Dutch master that have since been attributed to others.

That made for a striking experience for out-of-state visitor Bob Watson. A retired lawyer from Chicago, Watson took the tour with his son's family in Raleigh while visiting last month.

"I never realized how much back and forth there'd been about the authenticity of Rembrandt's works," Watson said. "It was a very interesting couple of hours. I learned a lot from the audio, about his workshop and the fact that he'd sign his name to pieces done in his shop even though he didn't paint them himself. After a while, I was not sure if I was looking at a Rembrandt or something by someone else."

In honor of the experience, Watson's son Brendan home-brewed a batch of beer - dubbed Definitely Not a Rembrandt.