Victoria Siddall is the new Director of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London.
The appointment was made by the Gallery’s Board of Trustees and was approved by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Siddall becomes the NPG's first ever female director in its near 170-year history.
Helping to announce the appointment, Britain's culture secretary Lisa Nandy said she was delighted that the Gallery was "making history" by appointing the first woman to its top job.
"I am excited to see what she and the National Portrait Gallery team will have in store for us in the coming years," Nandy said.
Siddall takes up the role just over a year since the gallery reopened after a three-year £41.3m refurbishment.
Her 20-year career has mainly been in the commercial art world, which is a very different beast to the tax payer-funded national museum world she is now stepping into.
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She's most well known as having been the Global Director of major art fair Frieze, leading its four huge fairs across London, New York and Los Angeles for 18 years in total.
Most recently, she co-founded charity Gallery Climate Coalition which aims to radically reduce the environmental footprint of the art world, and to end links to fossil fuels.
The coalition's Carbonisation Action Plan of 2021 advised galleries to cut even indirect Big Oil connections, stating: “Review your banking and investment policies, and make sure that you aren’t inadvertently supporting the expansion of fossil fuels… via your bank, staff pension or investment funds.”
Victoria Siddall "truly honoured"
Speaking of her appointment, Siddall said she was "truly honoured" and that she was excited to "look to the future and embark on a new chapter" for the institution.
"The art within [the gallery's] walls tells stories of human achievement and what unites us as a society, inspiring and shaping our view of the world and our place in it. This is perhaps the most exciting time in the NPG’s history, following the recent reopening...that the team delivered so flawlessly under Nicholas Cullinan’s leadership."
David Ross, Chairman of the Trustees said Siddall's had considerable "knowledge of the art world, understanding of audiences and [an] international profile" and that he greatly looks forward to working with her.
Siddall replaces Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE, who quit to become Director of the British Museum in June 2024.
In an Instagram post Cullinan congratulated Siddall. “I’m so happy for you and this wonderful museum to have such a great woman at the helm, which is both exciting and historic!”
She starts in the autumn.