Southern California’s Greatest Hits

From the first enthusiast who enters “Van Gogh’s Van Goghs” next Sunday at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the last straggler on May 16--the final day of the exhibition’s 17-week engagement--900,000 visitors are expected to visit the show. If the prediction proves accurate, the eagerly anticipated, heavily promoted event will be the second-best-attended exhibition in the city’s history. Following is a list of past blockbusters:

1958-59: An exhibition of 155 paintings and drawings by Vincent van Gogh, loaned by the Van Gogh Foundation in Amsterdam, at the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art in Exposition Park for six weeks. Attendance: 120,000

1969: An exhibition of 114 paintings and drawings by Van Gogh from the artist’s foundation, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (which opened on Wilshire Boulevard in 1965) for eight weeks. Attendance: 230,349

1978: “Treasures of Tutankhamen,” art and artifacts from the tomb of the Egyptian ruler, at LACMA for 17 weeks. Attendance: 1,250,629

1984: “A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape,” an exhibition of French Impressionist paintings presented with the Olympic Arts Festival, at LACMA for 11 weeks. Attendance: 460,000

1986: “Impressionist to Early Modern Paintings From the USSR,” works by modern European masters from Russian museums, at LACMA for seven weeks. Attendance: 360,000

1990: “Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: the Annenberg Collection,” a selection of artworks collected by Walter Annenberg, at LACMA for 11 weeks. Attendance: 300,000

1991: “Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries,” a massive historical survey of the art of Mexico, at LACMA for 12 weeks. Attendance: 352,854

1993-94: “The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America,” historical documents and artifacts, at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens for one year. Attendance: 325,000

1996: “America’s Smithsonian,” objects from collections of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington exhibited in celebration of the institution’s 150th birthday, at the Los Angeles Convention Center for four weeks. Attendance: 350,000