Daniel Weiss On The Future Of The Met

Weiss is no stranger to crusades.

- Charles Curkin

The 60-year-old Long Island native and former Johns Hopkins University professor is both a scholar of medieval history and the newly anointed sovereign of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met, one of the largest fine-arts institutions in the world, has been under siege of late, with a multimillion-dollar deficit and a shake-up at the helm. In February, the New York Times wrote that under then-director and CEO Thomas Campbell, the museum was “struggling with missteps and the perils of overreaching at a time of uncertain resources.” (Between reported staff tensions, a paused $600million expansion, and the introduction of a controversial new logo in 2016, the writing seemed to be on the wall.) Shortly thereafter, Campbell resigned his post. As president and CEO, Weiss is now charged with restoring the Met’s storied patina while marshaling it into the future. 

FOUND TREASURES

• I was introduced to art by my father, Joel Weiss. He moved to Puerto Rico after he and my mother divorced and became an artist, and it was through his work that my appreciation began. Later, while I was growing up on Long Island, a teacher brought me on a field trip to the Met. I was amazed—it had all of this interesting stuff in it! When I went there for the first time, I felt like a great treasure was unlocked for me.

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