Max Hollein (born 7 July 1969 in Vienna) is an Austrian art historian and the current CEO and Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He served as Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco from July 2016, until April 2018, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that Hollein would become its 10th director.
Hollein oversaw both the de Young and the Legion of Honor museums, which together are the seventh most-visited art institutions in the United States, with 1.4 million visitors in 2016. Hollein joined the Fine Arts Museums in July 2016 from his position as the director of Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Städel Museum and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung.
Life
Hollein was born in Vienna in 1969 to architect Hans Hollein and Helene Hollein. He studied art history at the University of Vienna and business administration at the Vienna University of Economics. During this period, he also free-lanced for the business section of the national daily newspaper "Der Standard". In 1995, following the successful completion of his studies with two master's degrees, one in art history and the other in business administration, he moved to New York City to take on the position of project director of exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
From 1996 until the end of 2000, he worked closely with Guggenheim director Thomas Krens, initially as "Executive Assistant to the Director" and, from 1998 onward, as "Chief of Staff and Manager of European Relations" responsible for key projects such as the establishment of the exhibition halls "Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin" and "Guggenheim Las Vegas". He was also involved in fundraising, travelling exhibitions, the inauguration activities at Guggenheim Bilbao as well as liaising with European cultural institutions, collectors, media, curators and sponsors.
Career
Schirn Kunsthalle
From 2001 to 2016, Hollein was the director of the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. He repositioned the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt nationally as well as internationally through a highly popular yet challenging exhibition programme from classical to contemporary art mounting up to ten major shows per year. The depth, quality and quantity of the programme has been accompanied by a significant increase in corporate funding. Among the highlights of the programme have been exhibitions such as "Shopping: A Century of Art and Consumer Culture", "Henri Matisse: Drawing with Scissors", "Yves Klein", "The Naked Truth: Klimt, Egon Schiele, Kokoschka and Other Scandals", "Women Impressionists" and "Edvard Munch. The Modern Eye". With projects such as "Playing the City 3" or "Street Art Brazil", he expanded his programming into urban spaces of Frankfurt. At the Schirn, his frequent collaborator was noted art historian Olivier Berggruen. In 2007 Hollein advocated against the demolition of the Schirn Rotunda and instead initiated a commission series with contemporary artists like Barbara Kruger, Ayse Erkmen, Rosa Barba or Heather Phillipson to create site specific works at the rotunda. Its online and digital outreach has been significantly advanced and the Schirn publishes its own wide-reaching online magazine "Schirn Mag" since 2011. 2014, Hollein opened the Minishirn – a creative space for children. By 2019, the Schirn had attracted more than 8.8 million visitors to over 240 exhibitions. For many years now, the Schirn has been the most popular art institution in the Rhine-Main region. In 2012 the Schirn had its best-attended year so far with a total of 479,121 visitors.