Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philippe de Montebello, answers student questions about his time spent as director. de Montebello has served as director for 31 years and will retire Dec. 31, 2008, making him the longest serving director in the museum’s 135-year history. (Casey Lee)

Phillipe de Montebello was the fourth speaker in the Tate Lecture Series and led an informal question and answer session at the Turner Construction/Wachovia Student Forum and the Dan and Gail Cook evening lecture on Tuesday.

de Montebello, the longest serving director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, has greatly changed the museum during his time as director, and oversaw the transformation of the Met into one of the most important museums in the world. Under his leadership, the museum nearly doubled in size and increased its exhibition space. He directed huge loan exhibitions and completely updated the museum’s permanent collection.

Students from SMU and area high schools attended the afternoon forum where de Montebello answered questions about how an exhibition is organized to some of his the famous pieces of art from around the world.

The evening lecture began by discussing how a museum is loaned pieces of art from other museums, and the ways in which an exhibition can be organized. He provided the audience with several anecdotes of his most difficult negotiations with countries like the Soviet Union and Mexico, and discussed the ins and outs of working with foreign countries and the ensuing bureaucracy.

de Montebello described how this process can be difficult, yet very rewarding at the same time. He then outlined the way the Met works out acquisitions, how the Board votes on pieces that can be bought and how the museum appropriates the money that they are given to work with.

de Montebello is retiring from the Met at the end of the year, and will serve as the first Fiske Kimball Professor in the History and Culture of Museums at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, and as a special advisor for NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus. He will also co-host “Sunday Arts,” a weekly TV culture series and lecture throughout the world on art, museums and their importance to society.

The Tate Series will resume on Jan. 27, 2009 as Chris Jordan, world-renowned photographer and environmentalist, conducts another Student Forum and evening lecture.