Robert van Langh succeeds Harry Tupan as the new general director of the Drents Museum.
Van Langh worked as head of Conservation & Science at the Rijksmuseum and stood at the cradle of the Netherlands Institute for Conservation+Arts+Science+ (NICAS), a partnership between the Rijksmuseum, the Cultural Heritage Agency, the Rijksdienst, the University of Amsterdam and the TU Delft.
Van Langh has a large international network in the museum and academic world. He studied at the National Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp and received his PhD at TU Delft in Materials Science and Art History. He conducted research for, among others, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Bargello Museum in Florence and was a Museum Scholar at The Getty in Los Angeles. Under his leadership, the Rijksmuseum went through a strong substantive development, the results of which were globally known, such as the large-scale Operation Night Watch.
Van Langh’s interest in the Drents Museum was piqued more than 20 years ago, when the exhibition Neem, drinckt alle daer uyt was opened in 1997. An exhibition on silver communion cups in Drenthe. An exposition which his predecessor Tupan curated. ‘Since then, I have been looking with pleasure at all the good and beautiful things that happen in the Drents Museum, such as the major overview on Frida Kahlo. I feel honored to be able to build on the strong foundation that has been laid,’ Van Langh said.