Here are our most-read arts stories and criticism of the year
Christmas is behind us, and the New Year is bearing down on us with alarming speed. It’s hard to believe that it has been almost a full year since the devastating fires erupted in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, sending many of us, our neighbors and friends fleeing to far corners of the state to escape the flames and smoke.
That tragic week marked the beginning of 2025 and the dawn of the second Trump term, ushering in a year that would challenge us in more ways than could have been imagined at the end of 2024.
As I look back on all the stories that The Times’ arts team covered over the last 12 months, it’s notable that the fires and Trump’s effect on the arts dominated the top of the most-read list. But there were also joyful stories about the people, shows and trends that shaped the cultural narrative of the endlessly surprising mid-2020s.
Without further ado, here are the top 10 most-read arts stories of 2025.
1. “Inside the dash to save the Getty Villa from the Palisades fire” chronicled a timeline of how Getty staff worked to face down the flames as they came perilously close to the beloved museum and its priceless treasures.
2. “The architecturally significant houses destroyed in L.A.’s fires” cataloged the irreplaceable loss of treasured historic structures including Will Rogers’ home in the Palisades and the Zane Grey estate in Altadena.
3. “Eames House, arboretum and other L.A. cultural gems threatened by fire: updates,” a running list of architectural landmarks endangered by the encroaching flames but not destroyed.
4. “What Netflix’s ‘Maria’ gets so wrong about Maria Callas,” Times classical music critic Mark Swed’s column about how the streaming giant’s biopic failed to grasp the fabled genius of the opera star.
5. “Ken Burns’ absorbing new Leonardo da Vinci doc on PBS sidesteps one important question,” former Times art critic Christopher Knight’s column about how the critically lauded doc danced around the question of the Renaissance genius’ homosexuality.
6. “Bruce Springsteen speaks out on Trump again: ‘They’re persecuting people for their right to free speech’,” a news story featuring a video of the Boss tearing into the president during a May concert in Manchester.
7. “New Kennedy Center board makes Trump chairman, prompting Shonda Rhimes and others to resign,” a follow-up story to the shocking news that Trump had fired the board and had his eye on becoming chairman. It soon happened and an exodus of top talent commenced.
8. “In first Kennedy Center visit, Trump slams ‘Hamilton’ and lauds other ‘Broadway hits’” :The headline says it all.
9. “CNN will broadcast a Broadway performance of George Clooney in ‘Good Night, and Good Luck.’ Don’t miss it,” Times theater critic Charles McNulty extolling the Broadway production and urging readers to catch it on television.
10. “Why ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at the Hollywood Bowl is ‘the musical theater version of the Avengers’,” a preview of the now legendary show starring Cynthia Erivo as Jesus and Adam Lambert as Judas, which played for three nights in early August.
I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt wishing you a happy, safe and healthy new year. Here’s your arts news for the week.
Our critics
Art critic Christopher Knight’s recent retirement reminded us how fortunate we are to have the finest critics covering the arts in Southern California. Here are a few of our most read pieces of criticism from 2025.
The new David Geffen Galleries, opening in 2026, are composed entirely of Brutalist concrete.
(Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)
Art, Christopher Knight
The new LACMA is sleek, splotchy, powerful, jarring, monotonous, appealing and absurd
The most significant American art museum show right now topples white supremacy
How a tiny stone from a warrior’s tomb is shaking up ancient Greek art at Getty Villa
Dudamel launches his final season at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sept. 25, 2025, in Los Angeles.
(Timothy Norris / Los Angeles Philharmonic)
Music, Mark Swed
Empty seats, no Dudamel: L.A. Phil opens its Hollywood Bowl season on somber notes
For beloved conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, a final bow from the podium
Dr. Gustavo Dudamel leads the New York Philharmonic, with L.A. style
Raul Esparza as Pontius and Cynthia Erivo as Jesus in the Hollywood Bowl’s production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
(Farah Sosa)
Theater, Charles McNulty
‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ transcends in starry Hollywood Bowl celebration led by divine Cynthia Erivo
Robert O’Hara’s incoherent ‘Hamlet’ is even more of a mystery than the original
In Broadway’s latest ‘Gypsy,’ Audra McDonald takes our critic from doubt to spiritual epiphany
Good riddance, 2025 … er, Happy New Year!
Countdown NYE
The giant intergalactic rave, promising alien contact, four stages and all-night debauchery, moves to the L.A. Convention Center for its 11th edition with headliners including John Summit, Above & Beyond, Pryda, Madeon, Slander, Sub Focus, Crankdat and Wuki.
7 p.m.-5 a.m. Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St., downtown L.A.. countdownnye.com
A preview of last year’s New Year’s Eve LA Midnight Countdown at Gloria Molina Grand Park.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Countdown to 2026
Gloria Molina Grand Park’s free, all-ages New Year’s Eve celebration, reportedly the largest on the West Coast, rings in the holiday with live music and performances on the Get Down Stage (hosted by Shaun Ross, featuring Ashley Younniä, Clax10 and DJ Wayne Williams) and the Countdown Stage, hosted by DJ Gingee featuring Ceci Bastida, Bardo and Ruby Ibarra.
8 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday. 200 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. grandparkla.org
New Year’s Eve with El DeBarge
The R&B crooner of such hits “All This Love,” “I Like it,” “Stay With Me” and “Rhythm of the Night” helps the new live jazz venue inaugurate a new tradition.
8 and 11 p.m. Wednesday. Blue Note LA, 6372 W. Sunset Blvd. bluenotejazz.com
The Roots ring in the New Year at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
(Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn.)
New Year’s Eve with the Roots
Philly’s finest take a break from “Tonight Show” duties to bring their eclectic blend of hip-hop to L.A. for two shows to close out the year.
7 and 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Queen Mary New Year’s Eve
Party in timeless elegance aboard the iconic ocean liner (safely moored in Long Beach to ensure there’s a morning after) with its Masquerade Soirée, live music, performances, casino games and fireworks.
8 p.m. Wednesday. 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach. queenmary.com
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Eugène Grasset, “Vitrioleuse (The acid thrower)” (detail), 1894, from the periodical L’Estampe Originale, album 6, April–June 1894. Printed by Auguste Delâtre. Lithograph, hand stenciled in five colors. 22 7/8 x 18 in.
(UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Bequest of Elisabeth Dean.)
A great gift
The UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts marks its 70th anniversary in 2026 and the Hammer Museum is presenting a two-part exhibition drawn from the center’s more than 45,000 prints, drawings, photographs, and artist’s books. Part one of “Five Centuries of Works on Paper: The Grunwald Center at 70” features nearly 100 works ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary art and includes pieces by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Vassily Kandinsky, Käthe Kollwitz, Ansel Adams, Elizabeth Catlett, Corita Kent, Bridget Riley, Ed Ruscha and Vija Celmins. The exhibit opened Dec. 20 and runs through May 17. Part two is scheduled from June 7-Oct. 25.
Fred Grunwald, a shirt factory owner, began collecting art in Germany in the 1920s with a focus on German Expressionism. After the Nazis seized most of the original collection, he and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1939. Grunwald started a new shirt factory and resumed his collecting in Los Angeles, expanding his interests to include prints from 19th and 20th century Europe, 19th century Japan and contemporary America. In 1956, Grunwald donated his extensive collection to UCLA so it would be accessible to students. His wife and children continued making gifts to the Grunwald Center after his death in 1964.
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Back to Cambodia
The Art Newspaper reported Wednesday that the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. has voluntarily returned three statues to the Cambodian government. An internal investigation by the NMAA determined that the objects were removed during the country’s civil war more than 50 years ago.
“There is very strong evidence that all three pieces came out of Cambodia, out of a context of war and violence and the dissolution of order,” said Chase F. Robinson, the NMAA’s director. “All three can be connected with problematic dealers, and no evidence emerged that gave us any confidence that the pieces came out in anything other than those circumstances. So after a lot of internal research and several visits to Cambodia, we worked closely with both the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts as well its legal representative Edenbridge, shared the information we had, and came to the conclusion that all three pieces should be returned.”
The three returned artifacts are a 10th century sandstone head whose ornate carved designs match others at the temple of Pre Rup; a four-foot-tall sandstone sculpture of the goddess Uma, also from the 10th century, whose detailing ties it to the temple of Phnom Bakheng; and a bronze statue of Prajnaparamita, the goddess of transcendental wisdom, from around 1200.
— Kevin Crust
And last but not least
Once you’ve slept off the New Year’s Eve festivities and had your fill of football, settle in Thursday at 8 p.m. for PBS SoCal’s broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual concert from the city’s historic Musikverein. The ensemble will be conducted for the first time by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and feature performances by the Vienna State Ballet and location segments hosted by “Downton Abbey’s” Hugh Bonneville.
