From the Director

The National Gallery of Canada is pleased to welcome Dr. Alexandra “Sasha” Suda as its new Director and CEO. Dr. Suda, who is the Gallery’s 11th Director, will officially start April 18, 2019.

Learn about this nomination on the Canadian Heritage website, and get to know our new Director in the short biography below.

“It is a great privilege to lead the National Gallery of Canada. A thrilling adventure awaits us – one that builds on a rich tradition, a world-class collection, and the dedication of the institution’s incredible staff. Human creativity is mankind’s most powerful and sustainable resource – without it we do not stand a chance negotiating the present, let alone creating a future that we cannot see. Artists are the greatest reminder that the human imagination is limitless; art museums ensure that their ideas and perspectives are cared for and amplified for years to come.”

Dr. Suda has a record of building and leading collaborative teams, visioning and managing complex cross-disciplinary projects, and cultivating dialogues with audiences nationally and internationally. Her belief in digital platforms as a vehicle for high-level scholarship has created a platform for the important work of museum conservators and revolutionized the way in which audiences encounter early historic art.

Dr. Suda began her career in the Medieval Department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and has since become an internationally recognized curator. In her most recent role as the Curator of European Art and the R. Fraser Elliott Chair of Prints and Drawings at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), she has made transformational acquisitions and significantly expanded her portfolio’s scope of collecting to include contemporary art.

Her recent exhibition projects include a collaboration with the University of Toronto dedicated to Ethiopian Art and shaped by the expertise of scholars and curators in the field; and Early Rubens, a major international loan exhibition conceived and co-curated by Dr. Suda in partnership with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Her award-winning 2016 exhibition, Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures, hosted a record numbers of visitors and forged a historic partnership between the AGO, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Rijksmuseum. 

Dr. Suda holds a PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. In 2016 she was selected to participate in the Governor General’s Leadership Conference, which brings together Canada’s future leaders.