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The Gulbenkian looks to the future with the arrival of Xavier Salomon
A change has taken place at Portugal's Gulbenkian Museum, as art historian Xavier F. Salomon has been chosen to direct one of the most important museums on the Iberian Peninsula. Since 2014, he has been a key member of The Frick Collection in New York and now heads a powerful and important collection on the European art scene.
A native of Rome, he grew up between Italy and the United Kingdom, studying art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, with a thesis on Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini. Salomon will replace António Filipe Pimentel as director of the Gulbenkian Museum, who is retiring next year.
View of the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon.
Salomon began his career in the United Kingdom with stints at the British Museum and the National Gallery in London, eventually becoming Chief Curator at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in 2006. He later moved to the United States to work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, since 2015, at the Frick, curating exhibitions of Veronese, Canova, Tiepolo, and Giorgione. The Gulbenkian Foundation highlights Salomon's international profile, in addition to his extensive experience in museum management.
The Gulbenkian Museum houses the collection assembled by Armenian businessman, collector, and philanthropist Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, with more than 6,000 pieces spanning from Antiquity to the 20th century, including Egyptian and Islamic works, as well as numismatic items, paintings, and decorative arts.
The Lisbon museum is currently closed for a major renovation and is expected to reopen in the summer of 2026 with shared programming based on the ideas of Filipe Pimentel and Xavier Salomon.
