Victoria Siddall appointed new Director of the National Portrait Gallery

Victoria Siddall, has been appointed Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, it was announced today, Wednesday 28 August 2024.

The appointment, made by the National Portrait Gallery’s Board of Trustees, was approved by the Prime Minister, and Victoria Siddall will take up the post in Autumn 2024.

Victoria Siddall has over 20 years’ experience of leadership positions in the art world, both in the public and private sectors. Most recently, she co-founded Gallery Climate Coalition and Murmur, two charities that drive environmental responsibility in the art and music sectors, and or the past two years she has also worked with Tate in a strategic advisory capacity. Victoria was previously Global Director of Frieze, founding Frieze Masters and then leading four international art fairs across London, New York and Los Angeles. After securing the launch of Frieze Seoul, she became a non-executive Director of Frieze in March 2022.

Victoria is a trustee of Gallery Climate Coalition and the Ampersand Foundation and was until recently a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. As Chair of the Board of Studio Voltaire she guided the organisation through a successful capital redevelopment campaign, greatly increasing the space dedicated to artist studios and public programmes. Other voluntary work has included securing a series of auction donations, which raised over $6.5m for the environmental charity ClientEarth.

The appointment of the Gallery’s thirteenth Director follows the departure of previous post-holder, Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE, who left the Gallery to become Director of the British Museum in June 2024, and Victoria Siddall will take over from Interim Director Michael Elliott.