Emilie Elise Saskia Gordenker (born February 5, 1965 in Princeton, New Jersey) is an American-Dutch art historian and museum director. She is currently the director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, a position she has held since February 2020. Gordenker is known for her leadership in the international museum sector,[1] and her innovative approaches to art curation and museum direction.[2]
Gordenker graduated with a B.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University. She later pursued her PhD in Art History at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, specializing in 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art, with a focus on the representation of dress in portraits by Anthony van Dyck. Her dissertation, Van Dyck and the Representation of Dress in Seventeenth-Century Portraiture, was published in 2001.[3][4]
In 2008, Gordenker was appointed Director of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, home to some of the world’s most renowned Dutch Golden Age paintings, including works by Jan Steen, Vermeer, and Rembrandt.
During her 12-year tenure, she led a significant renovation and expansion of the museum, which was completed in 2014. This project doubled the museum’s space and modernized its facilities while maintaining the integrity of the historic 17th-century building.
Under her leadership, the Mauritshuis hosted a number of major exhibitions, including 'Vermeer and His Contemporaries from the Royal Collection' (2016) and 'Shifting Image: In Search of Johan Maurits' (2019), which explored the controversial colonial past of Johan Maurits, the museum’s namesake.[5][6]
Director of the Van Gogh Museum
In February 2020, Gordenker became director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, succeeding Axel Rüger. The Van Gogh Museum is one of the most visited museums in the world, boasting over 2.2 million visitors annually and holding the largest collection of Van Gogh’s works, including more than 200 paintings and 500 drawings.[7][8]
At the Van Gogh Museum, Gordenker has overseen several important exhibitions, including 'In the Picture', a collection of self-portraits and portraits by Van Gogh and other 19th-century artists, and 'Van Gogh’s Most Beautiful Letters'. She also continues to focus on expanding the museum’s reach and its engagement with visitors, particularly through innovative digital projects.[9]
Van Gogh Museum Funding
In summer 2025, Gordenker publicly warned that the museum faced the risk of closure if the Dutch government did not increase its structural subsidy.[10] At the center of the dispute is the museum's €114 million "Masterplan 2028" for renovations, climate control, fire safety, elevators, and sustainability systems.[11]
The museum requested a €2.9 million increase to its annual subsidy (currently around €10 million) to cover part of the renovation, citing a 1962 agreement obligating the state to ensure the collection’s preservation.[11] The Ministry of Culture rejected the claim, stating that the subsidy follows a national formula and already ranks high per square meter among state museums.[11]
An independent commission confirmed the building's urgent repair needs. With partial closure expected to cost €27 million in lost revenue, the museum filed a legal complaint against the Dutch state.[12] The Van Gogh family, which oversees the Foundation owning the collection, issued a public statement supporting Gordenker and warning the state of its legal obligations.[11]
Personal life
Gordenker is the daughter of Prof. Dr. Leon Gordenker (1923-2020), a professor of political science at Princeton University, and Belia Emilie Strootman (1928-1984). Her maternal grandmother, Emilie Strootman-Engelberts, remarried after the death of her husband to Jan Gerrit van Gelder, the former director of the Mauritshuis from 1945.[13]
In 2008, she married a son of former Dutch banker Wim Scherpenhuijsen Rom.[14] She currently lives in Amsterdam.
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