Thomas Krens (born December 26, 1946) is the former director and Senior Advisor for International Affairs of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York City.

When Krens became the Guggenheim's director in 1988, faced with a tight budget, a building in need of renovation and weak donor interest, he said, "If you want a vital institution, change has to take place on so many fronts that it's likely to be bewildering.

[11] Krens mounted several historic exhibitions that rank among the 10 best-attended shows in the Guggenheim's history: "Africa: The Art of a Continent," in 1996; "China: 5,000 Years," in 1998, "Brazil: Body & Soul," in 2001; and "The Aztec Empire," in 2004.

[12] Moreover, under his leadership the Guggenheim organized major retrospectives of Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Roni Horn, Richard Prince, and Matthew Barney.

In 1989, Krens negotiated a gift of Impressionist paintings from the widow of Justin K. Thannhauser, acquired works of Minimalist art from the Panza Collection and oversaw the commissions of major artworks by Jeff Koons, Rosenquist, Rachel Whiteread and Gerhard Richter at Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin.

In Bilbao, Krens led an acquisitions program that has included major installations of works by Richard Serra, Koons, Jenny Holzer and Louise Bourgeois.

The success of the expansion in Berlin came on the heels of the collapse of a proposed Guggenheim satellite in Salzburg, Austria, while at one time there were as many as three nascent projects in Venice.

[4] The strategy pursued, radical in the eyes of traditionalists,[5] consisted of new construction and renovation, financed by bonds, and franchising by building satellite institutions around the world.

That is, the Guggenheim was accused of being trendy, and The New York Times critic Michael Kimmelman said the sales "stretched the accepted rules of deaccessioning further than many American institutions have been willing to do.

Kramer's reaction to The Art of the Motorcycle was condemnation,[16] and the hint of scandal over the financing of a Guggenheim retrospective of the work of fashion designer Giorgio Armani elicited withering attacks.

[23] Guggenheim's Bilbao project is also credited with directly inspiring Fourth Grace in Liverpool and the Imperial War Museum North near Manchester.