The moment well after midnight when one day slides into the next is usually a lonely time, observed by security guards and nurses, insomniacs and students cramming for exams. But this weekend, at the National Gallery in London, thousands of people were there together. They had come to see Friday into Saturday with some of the last paintings Vincent van Gogh ever made.

“There’s an intrigue,” said Digenis Koumas, a visitor, musing on the artist’s appeal. “It’s kind of an enigma, his life. The struggles, the battles he had with himself, with his psyche.”

Koumas, like many other art lovers, had interrupted his circadian rhythms and braved London’s spotty nighttime public transportation options for a final glimpse at “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers,” which was staying open for an all-nighter in an effort to meet visitor demand before it closed on Sunday. In a statement on Monday, the museum said it had been the most popular ticketed event in its history, with nearly 335,000 visits. Nearly 20,000 of those were on the final weekend.

For many visitors, the van Gogh show was as poignant as it was beautiful. The 61 pieces in the exhibition were all made in the two years before van Gogh died by suicide in 1890 at age 37.

Koumas had already seen the show at least eight times, he said, but he wanted one more look.

“You’re seeing his paintings,” Koumas said, “and you’re seeing him as well.”