Pritzker Director Madeleine Grynsztejn Announcement
Image: Maria Ponce.
MADELEINE GRYNSZTEJN, DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CHICAGO, ANNOUNCES HER DEPARTURE FOLLOWING A TRANSFORMATIVE 18-YEAR TENURE
Chicago, IL — March 17, 2026
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago announced today that Madeleine Grynsztejn, the institution’s Pritzker Director, plans to step down from her position at the end of 2026, concluding a nearly two-decade tenure that established the MCA as one of the most significant contemporary art museums in the United States and internationally.
Grynsztejn joined the MCA in 2008. Under her direction, the museum tripled its endowment; nearly doubled its operating budget; significantly expanded its audiences and partnerships, becoming a central force in local and global cultural dialogue; and prioritized making contemporary art more accessible to and reflective of the communities it serves. Grynsztejn also is credited with deepening the museum’s commitment to artists at pivotal moments in their careers and fortifying the institution’s stature as a preeminent platform for ambitious exhibitions and interdisciplinary initiatives.
With Grynsztejn’s decision to pass the baton to the next generation of leaders, the MCA Board of Trustees will undertake an international search for her successor beginning Spring 2026. She will remain in her position until the next director is hired, ensuring a smooth transition.
“Madeleine is one of the defining leaders of her generation. Her exceptional tenure has elevated the MCA Chicago to new heights—nationally and internationally—while remaining deeply rooted in and responsive to our Chicago culture and community,” Board Chair Bill Silverstein said. “Under Madeleine’s visionary leadership, expertise, and passion, the MCA entered a transformative era marked by the historic success of its exhibitions and a significant expansion of its world-class collection. Her tenure was defined by a commitment to institutional evolution, including an audience-centered renovation and the launch of the Bilingual Initiative to better serve the Chicago community. By championing the Women Artist Initiative and the internationalization of the Board of Trustees, Madeleine ensured that gender parity and global representation became core to the MCA’s identity, leaving the organization more inclusive and more influential than ever before. On behalf of the entire Board, it has been a privilege and pleasure to work in partnership with her.”
Grynsztejn said, “After 18 years, I have made the decision to step down from my role at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago at the end of this year to embark upon a next chapter. It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as the MCA’s Pritzker Director. When I arrived in 2008, I was inspired by the enormous possibilities—galvanized by the aspirations of a deeply committed Board and energized by the team’s wealth of talent. Today, I am proud to say we have exceeded our own expectations. I am grateful to the millions of engaged visitors and thousands of extraordinary artists with whom we have collaborated over the years. As the MCA approaches its 60th anniversary in 2027, this is an ideal moment for a new director to partner with the Board in defining this institution’s future ambitions and goals. The MCA Chicago embraces risk and champions artists, inviting dialogue about the complexity and urgency of our time. I am eager to apply what we’ve accomplished at the MCA to the wider art world and transition into a role where I can champion artists and their work even more directly.”
Under Grynsztejn’s direction, the MCA Chicago initiated numerous influential retrospectives of such renowned artists as Kerry James Marshall, Takashi Murakami, Doris Salcedo, Nick Cave, and Virgil Abloh, and brought major exhibitions to Chicago by David Bowie, Ólafur Eliasson, Yoko Ono, and Luc Tuymans. During her tenure, the MCA also implemented the acclaimed Ascendant Artist series of career-defining first museum solo presentations for artists at pivotal moments in their practices, positioning their voices more firmly in the center of local, national, and international discourse. Artists who received their first major exhibition and catalogue as Ascendant Artists include Rashid Johnson, Christina Quarles, Otobong Nkanga, Michael Rakowitz, Carolina Caycedo, The Propeller Group, Anne Collier, and Wafaa Bilal, among many others.
As Pritzker Director, Grynsztejn secured transformative gifts of art for the MCA’s permanent collection, including the groundbreaking D.Daskalopoulos Collection, held jointly with the Guggenheim Museum, New York. She added to the permanent collection the full archive of films made to date by renowned artist Arthur Jafa in collaboration with the Hartwig Foundation in Amsterdam; engineered the major gift of 79 contemporary masterworks from the collection of Chicago philanthropists Marilyn and Larry Fields, who also provided a $2 million endowment for a curatorial position; and in close partnership with MCA Trustee Helen Zell added 50 important works by artists such as Carol Bove, Nick Cave, Simone Leigh, Yayoi Kusama, Lorna Simpson, and Lisa Yuskavage with a view to extending the MCA’s strong history of Surrealist holdings into the present day.
Grynsztejn’s other defining contributions as Director include new initiatives that further cement the museum’s commitment to a more inclusive contemporary art history. Among these is the Women Artists Initiative, launched in 2015, which led the museum to collect works by female-identified artists at a rate of four times the national average (44% versus the national average of 11%) and present female-identified artists’ work in over half of all MCA programs (compared to the 14.9% national presentation rate)—a project that underscores Grynsztejn’s commitment to advancing gender equity at the MCA and in the field more broadly. She also established the MCA’s Bilingual Initiative, supporting a museum where Spanish-speaking and bilingual visitors enjoy as equal welcome as those who speak English and reflecting Chicago’s growing Spanish-speaking population.
In celebration of the museum’s 50th anniversary in 2017, Grynsztejn spearheaded an $82 million fundraising campaign, leading to the redesign of the MCA’s free public spaces, including an innovative social engagement space, the Commons. During her tenure, the Museum also inaugurated Marisol, its Michelin Guide-recognized restaurant.
In 2025, Grynsztejn secured the $10 million MCA Performance Fund to sustain and expand the museum’s commitment to live arts. She currently oversees the MCA Next Strategic Plan, which seeks to secure financial and artistic vitality for generations to come through increased endowment support.
Grynsztejn serves as President of the Museums In the Park (MIP), a consortium of Chicago’s leading museums working with the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois to build greater support for the value of museums. She is former President of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), where she continues to serve on the nominating committee. While at the MCA, Grynsztejn was selected as Commissioner of the Chilean Pavilion represented by artist Alfredo Jaar for the 2013 Venice Biennale and was knighted to the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France in 2015.
Prior to the MCA, Grynsztejn was Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where she curated the critically acclaimed traveling exhibitions Take your time: Ólafur Eliasson and The Art of Richard Tuttle, which received a “Best U.S. Monographic Museum Show” award from the Association of International Art Critics. At the Carnegie Museum of Art, she curated the 1999/2000 Carnegie International. Grynsztejn was born in Lima, Peru, and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, and London, England. She is a graduate of Columbia University, New York, where her contributions to the field were recognized with the 2018 Dean’s Award for Distinguished Achievement; and is a graduate of Newcomb College, Tulane University, where in 2018 she endowed the Marilyn Brown Award for Outstanding Art History Major in honor of her art history teacher.
ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CHICAGO
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The MCA interweaves exhibitions, performances, collections, and educational programs while providing a place for audiences to contemplate and discuss contemporary art in pursuit of a creative and diverse future. The MCA believes in the values of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) as a platform to enact structural change. The museum is generously supported by its Board of Trustees; individual and corporate members; private and corporate foundations, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and government agencies. The MCA is a proud member of Museums in the Park and receives major support from the Chicago Park District.
The MCA is located at 220 E. Chicago Avenue is open 10 am to 5 pm Wednesday to Sunday and Tuesdays from 10 am to 9 pm. Tuesday evenings (5-9 pm) are free for Illinois residents. The museum is closed on Mondays. Admission is free for all youth 18 and under, members of the military and veterans, and MCA members. Free admission for anyone 18 and under is generously provided by the Lefkofsky Free 18 & Under Fund. Find more information about MCA’s exhibitions, programs, and special events at mcachicago.org or 312.280.2660