Solo exhibitions focusing on female artists, who have historically been under-represented in UK museums and collections, have been performing strongly at a number of venues over the past few months.
These shows include Beryl Cook: Pride and Joy at The Box in Plymouth (24 January-31 May); Bridget Riley: Learning to See at the Turner gallery in Margate (22 November 2025-4 May) and Gwen John: Strange Beauties at National Museum Cardiff (7 February–28 June).
Beryl Cook: Pride and Joy has attracted 80,477 visits to date. The Box’s target of 75,000 visitors was reached on 29 April, with the exhibition still having more than four weeks to run.
A spokesperson for the Box said there were a number of reasons why the Cook exhibition was doing so well: “Beryl Cook has always been popular with local audiences but tying a major exhibition in with the centenary of her birth has created a real sense of celebration in the city and beyond.
“At a time when museums are confronting challenging histories and narratives and there are so many negative stories on the news, Cook’s work reminds people that there is joy in the everyday and in people living their day-to-day lives. There is warmth, humour and a lack of judgement in her work which feels very relatable and makes people feel a real sense of connection.”
Six life-sized sculptures of characters from Cook’s paintings were unveiled at key sites around Plymouth’s city centre and waterfront just after the exhibition launch. These have been popular in their own right but have also generated extra coverage and interest in the exhibition.
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Admission to the Cook exhibition is free, although visitors have to book tickets.
Bridget Riley: Learning to See, which closed at the Turner on 4 May, welcomed more than 189,000 visits during its run. This made it the third most visited exhibition in the gallery's history after Revealed, Turner's inaugural exhibition (April-September 2011) and Grayson Perry: Provincial Punk, which ran in April-September 2015.
Visitor numbers to the Riley show, which offered free admission, exceeded attendance expectations by more than 50%, with the exhibition averaging more than 8,000 visits a week.
Several attendance records were broken during the run, including the busiest exhibition closing day on record, with 3,032 visits, and the busiest single day of the last decade, with 4,588 visits on 4 April.
The Riley exhibition also coincided with a major milestone for the gallery as it welcomed its five millionth visitor since opening in 2011.
“The success of Bridget Riley: Learning to See marks one of the busiest exhibition runs in the gallery’s history and reflects the continued public appetite for major exhibitions celebrating leading contemporary artists,” said a Turner spokesperson.
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And as Gwen John: Strange Beauties at National Museum Cardiff enters its final weeks, data released by Amgueddfa Cymru has highlighted the exhibition’s impact.
More than 80% of ticket buyers to the John show were visiting the museum for the first time. Visitor targets were exceeded within the first nine weeks, and attendance is currently at around 20% above initial projections.
The exhibition has also attracted a broad geographic audience, with 39% of visitors travelling from outside Wales. Many visitors have returned to see the exhibition two or more times, as the museum approaches the 150th anniversary of John’s birth on 22 June.
Amgueddfa Cymru chief executive Jane Richardson said: “We were quietly confident that this exhibition would resonate with our audiences, but the response has been truly incredible and I’m particularly pleased that so many people have been first-time visitors.
“Gwen John has always been in the shadow of others, but she’s now firmly in the spotlight, yet doing it with the quiet grace and dignity that characterises her works. It’s a real honour to be able to share our collection with so many people and for our visitors to get to know Gwen for the wonderful artist she is.
"We hope this has ignited a spark for more people to be inspired by Wales’ national collection and look forward to continuing to welcome our visitors both in Cardiff and across our museums in Wales.”
Gwen John: Strange Beauties is a charging exhibition, with tickets costing £10 at off-peak times (term time, Tuesday-Friday) £14 at peak periods (Saturday and Sunday, plus school holidays).