Manet’s ‘Execution of Maximilian’ arrives at Norton Simon Museum
Édouard Manet’s “Execution of Maximilian” will go on view at Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum next week, marking the first time the painting has been exhibited on the West Coast. The historic canvas, on loan from London’s National Gallery, has a fascinating backstory and represents a key moment in French political history, making its arrival shortly after this country’s stunning midterm election particularly auspicious.
The painting is the second of five versions Manet created (circa 1867-68) shortly after the shocking execution of Austrian archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, who briefly served as the emperor of Mexico after being encouraged to do so by the French emperor Napoleon III. In 1867, Maximilian — along with his generals Tomás Mejía and Miguel Miramón — faced a firing squad made up of soldiers loyal to former Mexican President Benito Juárez, who had been forced out of Mexico City in 1863 when French forces descended on the capital. Maximilian’s ouster and death stunned many Europeans, who blamed Napoleon III for the bloodshed.
Manet’s monumental canvas is cold and unyielding in its impersonal depiction of the violent episode, and in many ways helped birth the modern historical political painting. Through Manet’s eyes, political violence is not heroic, but pedestrian, benign even. It contains echoes of another famous political painting: Francisco de Goya’s “The Third of May, 1808,” which also depicts death by firing squad — this time the execution of civilians by French troops during Napoleon’s notorious occupation of Spain.
The canvas coming to the Norton Simon was long neglected and is thought to have been discarded by Manet when he became dissatisfied by discrepancies in the size of the figures he painted. His family cut the canvas into four pieces after his death and sold them separately. It was saved from oblivion by Manet’s friend Edgar Degas, who managed to get a hold of all the fragments. The painting was acquired by the National Gallery in 1918 at Degas’ studio sale, and the painting was pieced together again in the late 1970s.
“Manet’s Execution of Maximilian is not only an icon within the history of nineteenth-century art, but also a profound reflection on the ways in which images shape our understanding of political events and collective memory,” said Emily Talbot, vice president of collections and chief curator at the Norton Simon in a news release. “By bringing this extraordinary painting together with historical materials that document the French intervention in Mexico, we invite visitors to consider how history is constructed in visual form.”
The painting will be on view at the Norton Simon from Nov. 14 to March 1, 2027.
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt ready for a jubilant walk through a museum on the heels of a roller coaster of an election. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
[Update: A previous version of this story said Manet’s “Execution of Maximilian” had not been shown in the U.S. for 20 years. It has not been shown on the West Coast before, but was shown in New York in 2024.]
The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
LA Phil’s incoming music director Daniel Harding conducting at the Hollywood Bowl in 2025.
(Etienne Laurent/For The Times)
Daniel Harding Leads Bernstein & Brahms
The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s incoming music director leads the orchestra for Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphony No. 1,” with mezzo-soprano Avery Amereau, and is joined by Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes for Johannes Brahms’ “Second Piano Concerto.”
8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Idina Menzel
The Broadway star joins with the Pacific Symphony, led by conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez, for a night of hits.
8 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 300 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scfta.org
NOW 2026
REDCAT’s New Original Works Festival features a different program each week over three weekends. First up, Alfonso Abraham Cervera and Irvin Manuel Gonzalez’s “las cosas que enter(r)amos,” a mix of Latinx American social and folk dance, storytelling, and contemporary dance; Scottie Harvey’s “Hole Gazers,” a comedic satire about fantasy, surveillance and life online; and Jeonghyeon Joo’s “how to bathe properly,” a solo work for haegeum, a two-string instrument, performed in a staged Korean sauna.
8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, through Nov. 21. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. redcat.org
Radio Galaxy
Joey McIntyre, Lesli Margherita, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Meera Simhan, Rishi Golani and Jordyn Rahman star in a new play by Michèle Aldin Kushner about a New Jersey teen who dreams of becoming an astronomer. Directed by Kimberly Senior.
Through Nov. 22. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
Sable Elyse Smith
“Sky Fence Ground” features new woven works on paper, a recent video work and a monumental kinetic sculpture by the multimedia artist.
Opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Friday, exhibit runs through Dec. 19. Regen Projects, 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. regenprojects.com
SATURDAY
Angela Anh Nguyen
Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) presents the artist’s “Entropy,” a site-specific installation that addresses the collective experience of the 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires through social media, monitoring apps, and other forms of digital communication.
Opening reception, 1-4 p.m., exhibit runs through Dec. 13. Old Fire Station No. 6, 534 E. Edgeware Road, Angelino Heights. nomadicdivision.org
Takes Care of Them
Four large-scale prints by artist Dyani White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) each depict a dress adorned differently to reflect on the roles of Lakota women in four areas: Wówahokuŋkiya (Lead); Wókaǧe (Create); Nakíčižiŋ (Protect); and Wačháŋtognaka (Nurture).
Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. theautry.org
SUNDAY
Billie Holiday and The Blues
L.A.’s Marlonius Jazz Orchestra, led by virtuoso bassist and composer Marlon Martinez, is joined by Brooklyn vocalist Mara Kaye for this tribute to Holiday and deep blues cuts.
8 p.m. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org
Camerata Pacifica
The November program includes a world premiere by Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Mozart’s “Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major,” alongside contemporary chamber works by Michael Daugherty, Missy Mazzoli and the late Sarah Gibson.
3 p.m. Sunday. Bank of America Performing Arts Center, Janet & Ray Scherr Forum Theatre, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Huntington, Rothenberg Hall, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino; 8 p.m. Thursday. The Colburn School, Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; and 7 p.m. Friday. Music Academy of the West, Hahn Hall, 1070 Fairway Road, Santa Barbara. cameratapacifica.org
Romeo and Juliet: Time Enough for Love
Open Fist Theatre Company presents a new age-reversed adaptation conceived and directed by Christian Lebano.
Previews, 7:30 Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, play runs Nov. 13-Dec. 19. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. openfist.org
Sage Ni’Ja Whitson: Revival_ _Revival
A free processional performance across the once predominantly Black community of Santa Monica, visiting sacred historic sites lost to time and gentrification, with a live score of gospel, house, hip hop, and voice. Audience members are invited to wear white clothing and white masks, and the procession closes with a fellowship meal at Ocean Bay Beach.
2 p.m. First AME Church, 1823 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica. 18thstreet.org
WEDNESDAY
Destiny of Desire
Karen Zacarías’ smart and fearless homage to telenovelas yields an epic, twisting yarn, full of coincidences and cliff-hangers, mistaken identities and gobsmacking revelations. It’s invigorating fun but also radiant with insight into the age-old debate between nature and nurture. When I first saw the play at South Coast Repertory in 2016, I was seduced by the production’s Brechtian energy. And I’m eager to see what fresh light director Marcela Lorca sheds on a play that my students at CalArts one year claimed as their favorite of the semester — and they have excellent taste. (Charles McNulty)
Through Dec. 20. Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. centertheatregroup.org
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, from left, Kara Young, Glenn Davis and Jon Michael Hill in the Broadway/Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of “Purpose.”
(Marc J. Franklin)
Purpose
The original Steppenwolf Theatre Company cast of the Broadway production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning drama reassembles at the Geffen Playhouse for the most anticipated dramatic event of the season. The play, about a prominent Black Chicago family headed by a civil rights icon with skeletons in his closet, has the scope, heft and flamboyant idiosyncrasy of the landmark American domestic dramas of the past. Under the assured direction of Phylicia Rashad, the actors brought the characters so richly to life in New York that I can’t wait to experience their ensemble alchemy in L.A. (Charles McNulty)
Through Dec. 13. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. geffenplayhouse.org
THURSDAY
The Heiress
Theater 40 presents the classic American romantic drama, adapted by Ruth Goetz and Augustus Goetz from Henry James’ novel “Washington Square.” Directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky.
Through Dec. 13. Beverly Hills High School, Mary Levin Cutler Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Drive. theatre40.org
Kafka’s Letter to His Father
Keeping things in weird perspective, CAP UCLA, in collaboration with Brightwork Ensemble, presents a production of Czech composer Jiri Trtik’s opera “Letter to His Father.” About Kafka’s artistic liberation from paternal authority, it is produced by and stars the most transformative tenor of our time, Timur. (Mark Swed)
8 p.m. Thursday-Nov. 14. UCLA Nimoy 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu
Las Migas
The Spanish Latin Grammy-winning all-women quartet melds traditional flamenco with contemporary stylings to reimagine the classic art form.
7:30 p.m. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Isata Kanneh-Mason
The New York-based classical ensemble is joined by the British pianist for a program featuring Mozart, Handel, Haydn and Welsh composer (and New York transplant) Katie Jenkins.
7:30 p.m. Broad Stage at Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica. broadstage.org
Dispatch: A harrowing exhibition of Iranian art in Chinatown
“Lunch,” by BSisters (Behnaz and Baharak Khaleghi), on view at the Fellows of Contemporary Art gallery in Chinatown.
(Fellows of Contemporary Art)
“Lunch,” a centerpiece installation at Fellows of Contemporary Art’s new exhibition centered on the works of Iranian-born women artists in California, is an upsetting sculpture that’s as soft and intimate as a pillow.
The piece, by the Bay Area duo BSisters (Behnaz and Baharak Khaleghi), riffs on the myth of Zahāk — a vain tyrant with snakes around his head that eat human brains to keep him alive. It’s a tale from the Shahnameh, a 1,000-year-old Persian epic poem. BSisters have rendered it here in cozy pastel fabrics and gauzy spilled cotton, materials that speak to how women activists in Iran have been brutalized and consumed by the fundamentalist regime there. The sculpture — very funny and unnerving at once — also evokes the strange mix of distance and intimacy of Iranian immigrants to the U.S., watching the current conflict curdle their hopes for change into deeper worry.
It’s one of several affecting pieces on display at FOCA’s Chinatown gallery as part of “I Saw a Woman, Pounding Light into Mortar,” an exhibition in which six California-based Iranian women artists grapple with distance and helplessness, amid a conflict where both governments seem driven by an almost cannibalistic consumption of people and resources.
“Growing up in Iran, political repression was never something distant from our everyday lives. It shaped our childhood, our experiences as women, and the ways we learned to express ourselves,” said Katayoun Bahrami, the exhibit’s curator. “Living in the United States now, I feel a constant tension between building a life here and remaining deeply connected to what is happening back home. This past year has been especially painful. After the deadly crackdown on protesters in January and the war that followed, hope and anger have been hard to separate. Watching from thousands of miles away, unable to do much, has brought a sense of helplessness that is difficult to describe.”
Much of the work here is quietly devastating in evoking absence, fear and exile. Shaghayegh Cyrous’s video installation “Reenacting the Future” is a mirror image of a mother and daughter, filmed over 12 years in the U.S. and Iran, a visual echo cleaved by exile. Narges Poursadeqi’s sculpture “Between Dots of Blindness” could fit in a desk drawer, but the braille poem it spools through a music box feels like the last thing you would shove in a suitcase, fleeing for a new country.
“This exhibition was born during the internet and phone shutdowns in Iran, when we had no way to reach our families or know whether they were safe. That silence was terrifying,” Bahrami said. “Bringing these artists together became deeply personal for me. I recognize parts of my own fears, memories, and longing in their work. Through their art and our conversations, I’ve found ways to process feelings that are difficult to carry alone. Curating this exhibition has helped me turn some of that helplessness into something meaningful. It has also reminded me how much we need one another, especially when we feel powerless to change what is happening.”
“I Saw a Woman, Pounding Light into Mortar” at FOCA-LA through Nov. 28; 970 N. Broadway, Suite 208, Los Angeles 90012.
— August Brown
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Director Zhailon Levingston sits outside before the rehersal of “Passing Strange” at the Pasadena Playhouse.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)
“Passing Strange,” a 20-year-old musical that takes place in downtown L.A. and went to Broadway, has never been performed here — until now. Pasadena Playhouse hosts its SoCal premiere.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is shaking things up. This week it announced a slew of new leadership positions that will go into effect alongside incoming music director Daniel Harding. The orchestra’s post-Dudamel future is shaping up to be quite interesting.
Times contributor Shana Nys Dambrot immersed herself in the world of L.A. galleries to prove that although many high-profile galleries have closed, plenty of new ones are also opening. Here is a handy guide for your next art adventure.
On election day we ran a piece about the possibility of patriotic orchestral music in deeply divided times. Martin Sheen told us why hope is more important than ever.
Former Times classical music critic Mark Swed returned for the first in an ongoing series of monthly columns. Up first: A look at orchestral democracy session across the globe, including one in Boston aided by AI.
The most anticipated play of the season is about to open as “Oh Mary!” heads for the Ahmanson. Ticket sales have been so brisk that Center Theatre Group has already booked the show again for next season.
“Richard Avedon: Hollywood” opens at Gagosian featuring more than 120 iconic photos of of celebrities and other cultural power brokers.
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A “Do Not Enter” sign hangs on the fence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 25 in Washington.
(Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP photo)
The Kennedy Center may be closed indefinitely for renovations, but that did not stop its Trump-anointed leaders from announcing who would be recognized at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors — to be held by necessity at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7. Honorees include singer-songwriter Paul Anka, music producer David Foster, actor Andy Garcia, playwright David Mamet and country singer Barbara Mandrell.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
It’s always fun with Times columnist Mary McNamara writes about Holland Taylor.
