Art, Music & Film
A famous portrait of Mai visits the United States
Joshua Reynolds's portrait of Mai, the first Polynesian to visit Britain, is at the Getty Center in Los Angeles until March 14, 2027.
A famous portrait by the English painter Sir Joshua Reynolds is on display in the United States for the first time. Called “Portrait of Mai”, it was painted in about 1776 and shows Mai, a traveler from Polynesia who visited Britain in the 1770s. The painting has been on show at the Getty Center in Los Angeles since September 15, 2026, and it will stay there until March 14, 2027.
The J. Paul Getty Trust and the National Portrait Gallery in London bought the painting together in 2023. The two institutions share it, and the plan is for the portrait to spend equal time in each country. Before it came to California, it was shown at the National Portrait Gallery and then went on a tour of the United Kingdom, with stops in Bradford, Cambridge and Plymouth.
Word in this story
The qualities, background and culture that show who a person is and where they belong.
According to the Getty, these details, together with his tattooed hands and the landscape behind him, signal his Polynesian identity.