After a distinguished career of three decades at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Gary Tinterow is now the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Tinterow returns to his native Houston as an internationally recognized curator and scholar in the fields of 19th-century European painting and sculpture and 20th-century art. At the Met, he organized numerous landmark exhibitions—most recently, Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; partnered with institutions around the globe on collection and exhibition exchanges; authored dozens of catalogues; secured many masterworks for the collection, including Van Gogh’s legendary Wheat Field with Cypresses; and directed the rebuilding and reinstallation of the Met’s galleries for 19th-century art in two projects that were both critically acclaimed.

In between relocating from New York to Houston and settling in to his position at the MFAH, Tinterow sat down for a conversation about Houston, art, and museums.

Click here for a welcome message from Gary Tinterow.

Growing Up in Houston

Transition from NYC to Houston

The Role of Museums Today

Ambitions for the MFAH