The Whitworth is an art gallery in Manchester, England, containing about 55,000 items in its collection. The gallery is located in Whitworth Park and is part of the University of Manchester. In 2015, the Whitworth reopened after it was transformed by a £15 million capital redevelopment that doubled its exhibition spaces, restored period features and opened itself up to its surrounding park. The gallery received more than 440,000 visitors in its first year and was awarded the Art Fund's Museum of the Year prize in 2015. In June 2017, Maria Balshaw stepped down as the director to take up her new role as the director of the Tate. Nick Merriman was acting interim director of the Whitworth. On 11 October 2018 it was announced that Alistair Hudson would be the new director of the Manchester Art Gallery and the Whitworth. Hudson, previously director at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), is a co-director of the Asociación de Arte Útil. History The gallery was founded in 1889 by Robert Dukinfield Darbishire with a donation from Sir Joseph Whitworth, as "The Whitworth Institute and Park". The first building was completed in 1908. In 1958 the gallery became part of the University of Manchester. In October 1995 the mezzanine court in the centre of the building was opened. The new gallery, designed chiefly for the display of sculpture, won a RIBA regional award. In 2010 the art gallery received 172,000 visitors, making it one of Greater Manchester's ten most-visited tourist attractions. In February 2015, the Whitworth reopened after a £15 million capital redevelopment and received over 440,000 visitors in its first reopening year. It was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize and won the Art Fund's Museum of the Year in 2015. 2003 theft On Saturday 26 April 2003, three paintings — Van Gogh's The Fortification of Paris with Houses, Picasso's Poverty and Gauguin's Tahitian Landscape – were stolen from the gallery. They were later found rolled up in a nearby public toilet and were subsequently put back on display. Architecture The Grade II listed gallery was built between 1895 and 1900 in a free Jacobean style to the designs of J.W. Beaumont. The gallery consisting two storeys and a basement is constructed of red brick with bands and dressings of matching terracotta and has green slate roofs. Its nine-bay main range has two towers and a large projecting semi-circular porch with a