The Amazing Portrait and Story of Mai

Talk
Oil portrait painting of a man in white robes with a hand outstretched

Portrait of Mai (“Omai”) (detail), about 1776, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Oil on canvas. Portrait of Mai was purchased jointly by the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Board of Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, London, 2023. Support provided to NPG by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund and other generous supporters.

Photo: National Portrait Gallery, London

Sunday, Sep 20, 2026

4pm

Getty Center

Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Free

Tickets are free, but required for event entrance. Your event ticket will also serve as your Center entrance reservation. Please note, there is a fee for parking.

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About

Coinciding with the US debut of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Portrait of Mai, this conversation explores Reynolds’s painting and its extraordinary subject, Mai, the first Polynesian to visit England. Join author and historian Hampton Sides and Getty's associate director of collections Richard Rand to hear about Reynold’s making of the full-length portrait, Mai’s time in England from 1774-76, and his return voyage to Tahiti on Captain James Cook's final voyage.

For in-person attendees, a book signing with Hampton Sides follows this talk. His celebrated book, The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook (2024), will be available for purchase both before and after the program.

Speakers

  1. Hampton Sides

    Author

    Hampton Sides is the author of the bestselling narrative histories Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, In the Kingdom of Ice, On Desperate Ground, and, most recently, The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook. The New York Times named The Wide Wide Sea one of 2024’s Ten Best Books of the Year and Barack Obama featured it on his coveted Summer Reading List. Writing in The Observer, Stephen Fry called The Wide Wide Sea “extraordinarily compulsive and fascinating on every page.” The book has been optioned for the screen. Hampton's novella-length non-fiction narrative about Mai, titled The Exotic, will be published in September as an ebook and an audiobook.

  2. Richard Rand

    Associate Director for Collections

    Richard Rand is the associate director for collections at the J. Paul Getty Museum. He has published widely and organized a number of exhibitions on 17th- to 19th-century French art. He is currently at work on a graphic novel about Mai and Reynolds.

Know Before You Go

Duration

Approximately 1 hour.

Planning your arrival

Please bring your tickets with you and have them open on your mobile device or printed. Your event ticket is also your entry to the Getty Center and will be checked upon arrival as you go through security before taking the tram or walking up the hill.

Your ticket will also be checked at the event entrance.

Note that during busy times of year and weekends, we recommend planning your visit to allow for at least 30 minutes to park, go through security, and make your way up to the event.

Event Check-In

Check-in begins 90 minutes before program start time at the Harold M. Williams Auditorium.

Doors open 30 minutes before program start time.

Seating

Unless otherwise noted, all seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. We recommend arriving early to guarantee a seat. Unclaimed tickets may be released 15 minutes prior to the event.

Accessibility

Wheelchairs are available for free rental on a first-come, first-served basis at the Lower Tram Station above the parking structure and at the Coat Check Room in the Museum Entrance Hall.

Seating for wheelchair users and their party is available at the back of the auditorium, as well as at the front of the space. If you'd like to sit in the front, please let a Visitor Services associate know when you check in and they can escort you to these seats.

Assisted listening devices are available for this event. Please request one from our Visitor Services associates when you check in.

For more information on how we can support your visit to the Getty Center, learn about accessibility at Getty.

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