Gudmund Vigtel (1925-2012) was born in Jerusalem, Israel, to Arne Jonson Vigtel and Elisabeth Petri. In 1944, he joined the Royal Norwegian Air Force and served in Canada, guarding German POWs. After World War II, Vigtel left the military and enrolled in the High Museum School of Art. In 1948, he received a scholarship to the School of Art at the University of Georgia, where he studied under Lamar Dodd (1909-1996) and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1952 and Masters in Fine Arts in 1953. In 1951, Vigtel married Solveig Lund (1927-) and they had one daughter, Elisabeth (1955-), before divorcing in 1964. In 1963, Vigtel became the director of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. The next year, he married Carolyn Gates Smith (1937-) and they had one daughter, Catherine (1966-). Vigtel served as the director of the High Museum of Art for 28 years; during his tenure the High's permanent collection tripled. Vigtel also oversaw the museum's expansion into the Stent Family Wing, designed by Richard Meier (1934-), in 1983. In 1991, Vigtel was given an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from the Atlanta College of Art.