Paris has been experiencing a surge in Dutch art exhibitions in recent years; one exhibition is hardly over before then next begins. The numbers of visitors are high and critics are surprisingly positive. But why now?

The Dutch Golden Age Masters attracted 4,000 visitors a day to the Pinacothèque. It was so popular the museum even stayed open in the evenings. Former French minister Luc Ferry said, “The beauty of the Dutch masters put tears in my eyes” after visiting the exhibition.

The Pompidou Centre attracted even bigger numbers to see works by Piet Mondrian.

An exhibition of Kees van Dongen paintings has been open for a month and is already a success. “We see an average 10,000 people a week,” says Fabrice Hergott, curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne. “We are really pleased.”

Louvre curator Blaise Ducos expects hoards of art lovers to come and see the Rembrandt exhibition which opened today. “The French just love Dutch art.”

Relaxed rules
But the French have always loved Dutch art - so why the extra interest now? “It’s because Dutch museums are allowing art works to travel across the world more and they are sharing work with other museums more nowadays. Exchanges with French museums in particular have increased,” says Jeanne Wikler, managing director of the Institut Néerlandais in Paris, which represents Dutch art and culture in France.

In 2007, European rules for exchanging art were relaxed. “Is has become much easier and less expensive for museums,” she says. “A large part of the Mondrian exhibition came from the The Hague’s municipal museum (Gemeentemuseum Den Haag). The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam lent a lot of works to the Pinacothèque. Part of the Van Dongen exhibition was shown at the Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam.”

Sharing art
There are also economic forces at work. Sharing art means museums can make a bit of money. It is simply too expensive for museums to put on an exhibition by themselves. “You have to share art with other museums. There is an economic reality forcing curators to do it,” says Ms Wikler.

Vermeer, Van Dongen and Rembrandt are guaranteed box office successes, but it is not just the classic names which have come to Paris. Avant Garde artist Aernout Mik’s videos can be seen at the prestigious Jeu de Paume museum.

Globalisation
Jeanne Wikler has seen a change in the French. “French society is opening up to the world. The French speak better English nowadays, they go away on holiday more often and they no longer only travel in groups with a French guide! Globalisation is making cooperation between museums easier, but it is also creating more French interest in the outside world and foreign art.”

She laughs, “and don’t forget, our artists are very good of course!”