LOS ANGELES — After a six-month search that fueled intense speculation, the Museum of Contemporary Art here has confirmed that Philippe Vergne, director of the Dia Art Foundation in New York, has been chosen as its new director.

It is the second time in a row that the museum has looked to New York for a new leader. Mr. Vergne will replace Jeffrey Deitch, the former New York art dealer who generated fierce controversy as the museum’s director from 2010 until last summer.

Mr. Vergne, 47, who was born in Troyes, France, is a veteran curator with experience both in Europe and in the United States and an extensive background in museum administration. He was director of the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Marseille from 1994 to 1997, and then a senior curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

He went back to Europe briefly to run the private François Pinault Foundation for contemporary art, but returned to the Walker as its deputy director and chief curator in 2005. In 2006 he was one of the curators of the Whitney Biennial, which was generally well received, though regarded by some critics as dry and didactic.