Gary Vikan was Director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore from 1994 to 2013; from 1985 to 1994, he was the museum’s Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Medieval Art. Before coming to Baltimore, Vikan was Senior Associate at Harvard’s Center for Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC. A native of Minnesota, he received his B.A. from Carleton College and his Ph.D. from Princeton University; he is a graduate of the Harvard Program for Art Museum Directors and the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program.

Gary serves on the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts of the Salzburg Global Seminar. Has been has been an advisor to the Getty Leadership Institute, Princeton University’s Department of Art and Archaeology, and the Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University.

Gary was appointed by President Clinton in 1999 to his Cultural Property Advisory Committee and was knighted by the French Minister of Culture in the Order of Arts and Letters in 2002. He is on the board of the IRIS Music Project, is former president of the Literary Society of Washington, DC, and is currently the president of the Committee for Cultural Policy.  

In retirement, Gary writes, lectures, and teaches. His recent books include "From the Holy Land to Graceland" (2012), "Sacred and Stolen: Confessions of a Museum Director" (SelectBooks, September 2016), “The Holy Shroud: A Brilliant Hoax in the Time of the Black Death,” (2020), My Father Took Pictures (2021), and with Elana Klausner Vikan, Postcards from Behind the Iron Curtain (2023).  

Gary and Elana live in Baltimore. They have two daughters, Nicole and Sonia, and two grandchildren.