Patrick McCaughey was director of the National Gallery of Victoria between 1981 and 1987 and spent the northern academic year 1986-87 as visiting professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University. Between 1988 and 2001 he was director of the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Yale Center for British Art. He directed the Festival of Ideas at the University of Melbourne 2009-11 and holds an LLD (Honoris Causae) from the University of Melbourne. He has published widely on Australian, American and European Art and is a particular champion of Charles Blackman, Leonard French, Roger Kemp, John Brack and Fred Williams.