Caroline Shields

Caroline Shields is the Curator of European Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Toronto. She joined the AGO in 2017 as Assistant Curator and has led the European Art department since 2019. In this role she has prioritized exhibitions, installations, and acquisitions that expand the narrative of European art told in the galleries to illustrate more inclusive histories. Her exhibition "Cassatt—McNicoll: Impressionists Between Worlds" (2023) brought together American Mary Cassatt and Canadian Helen McNicoll, both of whom established their artistic careers in Europe. Previous exhibitions include "Impressionism in the Age of Industry" (2019) and co-curated permanent collection installations include "Belmore | Bernini" (2019), "Carl Beam: The Columbus Suite" (2022), and "Naudline Pierre: Written in the Sky" (2023), which featured a co-acquisition with the AGO’s Global Africa and the Diaspora department. She has also co-curated two reinstallations of the European art permanent collection in 2017 and 2022. A specialist in nineteenth-century European art, Shields earned a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. Prior to her start at the AGO she held curatorial roles at the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.