Karl Gunnar Vougt Pontus Hultén

Karl Gunnar Vougt Pontus Hultén was born in Stockholm in 1924. He studied art history and ethnology at the University of Stockholm, completing a master’s thesis on Vermeer and Spinoza. In the late 1940s and 1950s, he spent time in both Stockholm and Paris, where he became involved with the contemporary art scene. There, he met artists like Jean Tinguely, Marcel Duchamp, and Robert Breer, and began organizing exhibitions and making experimental films. Hultén believed museums should be open, dynamic spaces that break away from elitist traditions, making art accessible and relevant to a wide and varied public. This approach drove his career from the start and shaped how he worked with artists and audiences throughout his life.

As a museum director and curator, Hultén reshaped how museums presented art and engaged audiences. Beginning as director of Moderna Museet in Stockholm from 1959 to 1973, he built the collection and reputation by promoting emerging movements like kinetic art and Pop Art, organizing exhibitions that combined multiple disciplines. In 1961, he staged Movement in Art, one of the first kinetic art shows, and in 1966, he co-created She – A Cathedral, an immersive installation inviting public participation. He worked closely with artists such as Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, and Andy Warhol, and fostered collaborations between engineers and artists, notably through Billy Klüver and the Experiments in Art and Technology group. In 1968, he curated The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age at MoMA in New York, connecting art with technology and design. Hultén also expanded museum accessibility by extending opening hours and rethinking exhibition materials to deepen audience engagement.

In 1973, Hultén became the founding director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, where he continued organizing landmark retrospectives, including major exhibitions of Marcel Duchamp. He curated surveys that linked Paris to other global art centers, highlighting transnational dialogues in contemporary art. Later, he helped establish the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and went on to lead institutions including Palazzo Grassi in Venice and the Jean Tinguely Museum in Basel. He also founded the Institut des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques in Paris, contributing to interdisciplinary art education. In 2005, he donated his personal collection of about 700 works to Moderna Museet, ensuring public access to any pieces not on view through open storage.

Hultén was recognized internationally for his contributions to the arts. In France, he was awarded the Legion of Honour, and in Sweden he was honored with the Illis quorum medal. He also served on the jury of the Venice Film Festival in 1986, reflecting his broader engagement across disciplines. His approach to exhibitions, publications, and museum design treated museums as open forums rather than static repositories, which has influenced a whole generation of curators and institutions. He remains widely cited as a model for interdisciplinary programming and audience-driven museums. In 2005, he donated around 700 works from his private collection to Moderna Museet, with the condition that any work not on display should still be accessible through open storage. Hultén passed away in Stockholm in 2006.