Dr Nicholas Cullinan

Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE started as Director of the British Museum in June 2024. He was previously Director of the National Portrait Gallery and oversaw the biggest transformation of the Gallery since its building opened in 1896. He also initiated an innovative international collaboration with Getty to co-acquire Portrait of Mai (c. 1776) by Sir Joshua Reynolds - the largest acquisition in the Gallery’s history and that the UK has ever made (along with the Titian acquired by the National Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland in 2009). Prior to this, he was a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Tate Modern in London, where he co-curated an exhibition of Henri Matisse's cut-outs with Sir Nicholas Serota in 2014, which is the most popular exhibition in Tate’s history and the first to receive more than half a million visitors. Nicholas received his BA, MA and PhD in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and in 2006–7 he held the Hilla Rebay International Fellowship at the Guggenheim museums in Bilbao, New York and Venice. Other fellowships include The Morgan Library & Museum in New York and the British School at Rome. Nicholas sits on several boards, including as a Trustee of Chatsworth House Trust and has published extensively and lectured internationally. He was awarded an OBE for services to the Arts in the 2024 King’s New Years Honours list.