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Valérie Cueto

Curator, Cultural Strategist, and Art Advisor

Born and raised in Paris, Valérie Cueto is an internationally respected curator, cultural strategist, and art advisor whose practice moves fluidly between historical scholarship, contemporary creation, and the art of the interior. With more than three decades of experience, she has built a reputation for shaping sophisticated dialogues between periods, disciplines, and cultures, creating exhibitions and collections that are as intellectually rigorous as they are visually compelling.

A recipient of the prestigious Ordre des Arts et des Lettres awarded by the French Ministry of Culture, Cueto is recognized for her contribution to artistic innovation and cultural enrichment. She studied at the École du Louvre and pursued further specialization through Sotheby’s Institute of Art, focusing on modern, contemporary, and tribal art. Her early years in leading Parisian galleries refined a singular eye for both emerging talent and museum quality historical works.

In 1998, Cueto founded her own gallery in Paris, establishing a distinctive program that juxtaposed contemporary artists with historical masters in unexpected and highly curated environments. The gallery quickly attracted an international audience of collectors, curators, and cultural figures drawn to her instinctive sense of composition and her ability to create emotional and intellectual resonance across centuries.

Since relocating to New York in 2006, Cueto has expanded her practice internationally through curatorial projects, public art commissions, cultural programming, and private advisory work. Her approach to art advising is deeply interdisciplinary, combining connoisseurship, market expertise, and a refined understanding of architecture and interiors. She is particularly sought after for her ability to build collections that transcend categories and periods, creating coherent narratives between fine art, decorative arts, furniture, sculpture, and design.

Cueto is also recognized for her work in public art and cultural strategy, where she has developed ambitious site specific projects for urban environments, foundations, and private institutions. She was notably shortlisted as lead curator for the artistic curation of the Riyadh Metro, reflecting international recognition of her ability to conceive large scale cultural environments that integrate public engagement, architecture, and contemporary artistic vision. Her projects often emphasize the relationship between art and lived experience, integrating aesthetics, storytelling, and community engagement into lasting cultural interventions.

From October 2025 through January 2026, Cueto curated The Nomadic Eye at Galerie Philippe Perrin, a critically noted exhibition exploring the dialogue between contemporary art, antiques, and interior architecture. The exhibition articulated her philosophy of the ensemblière, a historical French concept describing a figure who composes spaces through the orchestration of art, furniture, objects, and atmosphere. Rather than approaching curating as the isolated presentation of artworks, Cueto positions herself as an “interior curator,” constructing immersive environments where paintings, sculpture, furniture, and decorative arts exist in dynamic conversation. Her work proposes the interior itself as a curatorial medium, where historical memory and contemporary sensibility coexist.

With her Franco-Spanish heritage and profoundly cosmopolitan perspective, Cueto approaches each project with what she often describes as a “nomadic eye” — an intuitive ability to connect disparate histories, aesthetics, and geographies into unified visual narratives. Whether curating exhibitions, shaping collections, or conceptualizing interiors, her practice consistently blurs the boundaries between art, design, scholarship, and emotional experience.