Axel Rüger Appointed Royal Academy Secretary and Chief Executive

Axel Rüger, who has been at the helm of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam since 2006, is now set to take on the role of secretary and chief executive at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, a move approved by Queen Elizabeth II. His career started in museums across the U.S., and by 1999, he was the curator of Dutch Paintings at the National Gallery in London. He succeeds Charles Saumarez Smith, who departed the role in late 2018 to join Blain Southern. Tim Marlow remains as the director of artistic programs at the RA. While at the Van Gogh Museum, Rüger decided to keep Van Gogh's Sunflowers on permanent display and ended an 18-year sponsorship with Shell after protests.