Yigal Zalmona

Yigal Zalmona was born in 1945 in Tel Aviv

Yigal Zalmona was born in Tel Aviv on April 28, 1945, and grew up in the Neve Shaanan neighborhood. His father, Marco Zalmona, was a dentist.

At 20 he went to Paris, where he first studied literature, anthropology and history. He then studied art history at the Sorbonne and earned bachelor's and master's degrees, with a thesis on Jean Dubuffet. He later wrote a doctorate on Eastern influences on early 20th century Israeli art.

He turned down a teaching assistant post in Paris and returned to Israel. In 1972 he began working at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, later as curator of sculpture, drawings and prints. He resigned in 1974 with Ilan Tamir after a dispute over showing young avant-garde artists, then taught and wrote art criticism for Maariv.

In the early 1980s he became curator of Israeli art at the Israel Museum. In 1996 he was promoted to senior curator and deputy director, and he curated exhibitions such as Kadima on the East in Israeli art. He left the museum in 2012.

Since 2012 he has advised the National Library on exhibitions and art. He also teaches at the art department of Shenkar College in Ramat Gan.