Kim Sajet, the former director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery who stepped down this summer after President Donald Trump attempted to fire her, will not be taking up another museum post in Washington: The Milwaukee Art Museum said Wednesday that Sajet will be its new director.
Former Smithsonian director discusses museum standoff — and her new job in Milwaukee
September 4, 2025 | In the PressFrom The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2025/09/03/kim-sajet-milwaukee/)
“When I left the Smithsonian, a number of organizations reached out, and they were all different types,” Sajet told The Washington Post, adding that the Milwaukee Art Museum — whose collection contains more than 34,000 works, from antiquities to modern and contemporary art — felt like “a really good fit” and returns the Dutch historian and curator to her background in international art.
In an interview, Sajet discussed the June standoff that culminated in her resignation. “I decided to resign from my position because no one museum should be characterized by a single individual,” she said. “And I would do the same thing here in Milwaukee. I wanted to support my colleagues and give them an opportunity to do their work without all of the noise of what was happening to me specifically.”
At the time, Trump criticized Sajet for being a “highly partisan person” and the White House circulated a list of 17 examples that it said supported the president’s claims about her, including her donations to Democratic presidential candidates and past interviews about expanding the gallery’s representation.
The Milwaukee Art Museum, in contrast, may present a more pleasant set of challenges.
“I was blown away by the breadth of the collection, and I think a lot of people, even in the arts community, have no idea what’s here,” Sajet said. “So I’m really looking forward to showing a little bit of light, not just in being part of this community, but also letting the [world] know what we have, because it is an international collection.”
Sajet described the museum’s holdings as “a collection of collections” and highlighted the Bradley Collection. The gift of nearly 400 works by renowned artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Pablo Picasso will mark its 50th anniversary with a gala on Sept. 20 — Sajet’s first public event in the role, she said.
Among her first priorities for the museum, Sajet said, is encouraging repeat visits to drive memberships. She also wants to get more familiar with the local arts scene and lean into the museum’s history as a launching pad for major artists.
“There is a strong tradition at the Milwaukee Art Museum of supporting artists at the start of their career or expanding artists to be better known,” Sajet said, citing Cy Twombly and Damien Hirst, who had early exhibitions at MAM.
Sajet’s move comes at a precarious time for museums and cultural institutions nationwide, which she attributed to a number of factors.
The coronavirus pandemic disrupted attendance patterns, Sajet said, and shifts in philanthropic support have slowly eroded the traditional financing model for museums.
“I think all the museums across the world are grappling with these issues of relevance and the sense of ‘how do people use our facilities and what value do we bring to humanity?’” she said.
Then there’s the political pressure faced by Washington’s cultural institutions in particular. Sajet’s appointment, which begins on Sept. 22, arrives nearly three months after her departure from the Portrait Gallery in June. After Trump’s claim that he had dismissed her, the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents asserted that only the Smithsonian secretary could hire and fire museum directors. But eventually Sajet resigned, saying her presence was a distraction from the institution’s mission.
Sajet on Wednesday lauded Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III for his leadership amid the changes at the institution.
