Berlin-based Bernd Ebert becomes head of Saxony's art collections

The Dresden State Art Collections (SKD) will once again have a Director General. On May 1, art historian Bernd Ebert will succeed Marion Ackermann, who will become President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin in the summer. The Saxon cabinet has now approved the selection of a search committee. Ebert's contract at the SKD, an association of 15 museums with a total of around three million objects, runs until the end of 2033.

Ebert, born in Berlin in 1972, comes to the Elbe from Munich. There, he has headed the collection of Dutch and German Baroque painting at the Bavarian State Painting Collections since 2013 and is also responsible for the state galleries in Bayreuth and Bamberg. For him, the move to Dresden is a return to the place where he trained as a banker.

Culture Minister Barbara Klepsch (CDU) is delighted with the appointment, saying that Saxony is gaining a "distinguished and sought-after art historian". Ebert's clear ideas on how he wants to lead the internationally renowned museum association "into a promising future" are convincing. With his enthusiasm for the collections and his national and international experience and networks, he is predestined for the position.

Ebert impressed with his career and a rare mix

"He is an outstanding art historian with an international reputation as a scholar," said Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum and Director of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. He has a "rare blend" of legal, administrative and financial skills, experience of a large encyclopaedic collection and an "impressive" track record of exhibitions that attract new audiences and transcend the traditional boundaries between art history and other disciplines.

"What convinced us most is his ambitious vision for the future of the collections as a whole, for what they can mean for Dresden, for Saxony and for the world - and that he has a clear idea of how to make that vision a reality," said MacGregor.

Ebert has worked and curated at museums in Germany and abroad

Ebert studied art history, law and business administration in Bonn, while also gaining practical professional experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of South Africa, as well as in private collections and the art trade. He also spent several years conducting research in the Netherlands and worked at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin from 2005 to 2013.