Quick Facts on Joachim Pissarro

1. Great-grandson of the French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro
2. Father was also an artist, and mother owned a contemporary art gallery
3. Determined not to pursue a career in art, Pissarro earns a degree in philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1979
4. Has a change of heart and studies art history, graduating from the Courtauld Institute in London in 1982
5. Appointed director of Impressionist and modern paintings and sculpture at Phillips auction house in 1984
6. Works as an independent curator for the Dallas Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Royal Academy of London from 1988 to 1993
7. Serves as chief curator of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, from 1994 to 1997
8. Takes an academic position in Australia in 1999 as visiting lecturer at Sydney University, Melbourne University, and the Brisbane, Queensland Art Gallery
9. Serves as the 2000 Mellon Consulting Scholar in the archives department and joins the advisory committee on archives, library, and research at the Museum of Modern Art in New York
10. Earns a PhD in art history at UT Austin in 2001 while working at Yale University Art Gallery as curator of European and contemporary art and at the Department of the History of Art as adjunct professor
11. Teaches contemporary art and theory as a visiting professor at Hunter College, City University of New York, 2003
12. Appointed September 12, 2003 as one of three curators to lead the New York Museum of Modern Art, now undergoing an $858 million renovation to be completed next fall