Ralph Gleis, the director of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, has been appointed to succeed Klaus Albrecht Schröder as general manager of the Albertina in Vienna from January 1, 2025, the Austrian culture ministry said in a statement. communicated.
Gleis was selected from 20 candidates, having “convinced the search committee with his competence, experience, aura of professionalism and enthusiasm for the Albertina”, said Andrea Mayer, Austrian Minister of Culture, in the press release. . “In my opinion, the Albertina will be in good hands, even after the impressive Schröder era.”
Schröder will have led the Albertina for 25 years when he steps down at the end of 2024. Among his successes is securing the Essl collection, comprising 1,323 works, for the museum in 2018.
Born in 1973 in Münster, Germany, Gleis has directed the Alte Nationalgalerie since 2017. Exhibitions he has curated there include a recently opened exhibition on the Secessions in Berlin, Munich and Vienna with works by Gustav Klimt and Max Liebermann; shows by Paul Gauguin and Liebermann last year; a major exhibition of Belgian symbolism in 2020, and a show called Wanderlust with works by Caspar David Friedrich and Auguste Renoir in 2018.
His previous career included eight years as a curator at the Wien Museum in Vienna and one year as a researcher at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. He studied art history in Münster, Bologna and Cologne, where he obtained a doctorate on 19th century historical painting in 2008.
