Event

Multilingual Gallery Drop-In Talks: “Blue Boy” and “A Portrait of a Young Gentleman”

Take a closer look at Kehinde Wiley’s “A Portrait of a Young Gentleman” and the iconic masterpiece that inspired it, “The Blue Boy” by Thomas Gainsborough. Informal talks will be held in English, Spanish, and Mandarin.

In this free drop-in program, join Huntington docents and educators for a trilingual exploration of Thomas Gainsborough’s masterpiece The Blue Boy, alongside an inspired work, Kehinde Wiley’s contemporary masterpiece A Portrait of a Young Gentleman. Offered in English, Spanish, and Mandarin, these 20-minute talks will explore the artworks, their painters, and how these paintings fit together in conversation as well as in The Huntington’s collections today.

  • English at 1:30 p.m.
  • Spanish at 2 p.m.
  • Mandarin at 2:30 p.m.
A painting of a boy in blue clothing.

Thomas Gainsborough (British, 1727-1788), The Blue Boy, 1770. Oil on canvas, 70 5/8 × 48 3/4 × 1 in. (179.4 × 123.8 × 2.5 cm), frame: 85 × 63 × 6 in. (215.9 × 160 × 15.2 cm). | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Portrait of a young Black man with orange poppies in the background.

Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977), A Portrait of a Young Gentleman, 2021. Oil on linen, canvas: 70 1/2 × 49 1/8 in. (179.1 × 124.8 cm), frame: 87 × 64 × 5 1/4 in. (221 × 162.6 × 13.3 cm). | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. © Kehinde Wiley. Photo by Joshua White / JWPictures.com.

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A painting of a boy in blue clothing.
Portrait of a young Black man with orange poppies in the background.