Dr Hartwig Fischer, who is currently the Director General of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, will take up the post in Spring 2016. The current Director, Neil MacGregor, will retire from the Museum at Christmas.
Dr Hartwig Fischer is currently the Director General of the Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden) where he is responsible for fourteen museums and four separate institutions in four cities. His focus since his appointment in 2012 has been on modernizing and developing the State Art Collections, which date back to the 16th century. The collections are some of Germany’s finest, spanning more than 5,000 years of art, archaeology, anthropology and cultural history.
Prior to that appointment, Dr Fischer was Director of the Folkwang Museum in Essen (2006–2012). Whilst in post he oversaw the fundraising and restoration of the historic museum and the construction of a new building, and presided over a period of increasing visitor figures and popularity. He began his museum career at the Kunstmuseum in Basel, where he was curator of 19th-century and Modern Art from 2001–2006.
Dr Fischer has studied the History of Art, History and Classical Archaeology in Bonn, Berlin, Rome and Paris and holds a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Bonn. He speaks German, English, French and Italian.
He was born in Hamburg 14 December 1962.