Museum lecturers, educators, graduate students, and occasionally curators lead talks in the collection and special exhibitions daily at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Audiences learn about the historical context and significance of modern and contemporary artworks through a process of looking and exchanging ideas with a lecturer.

Captivated by the politics of colonialism and war, Edouard Manet depicted the execution of the Emperor Maximilian in a series of paintings and lithographs from 1867 to 1869. In this panel discussion, scholars and artists discuss the legacy of Manet's representation of politics and war through painting and historical documentation. Panelists include artists Sue Coe, Gilles Peress, Yinka Shonibare, and Krzysztof Wodiczko; Philip Gourevitch, editor, The Paris Review, and author of We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories from Rwanda (1998); and moderated by Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, Associate Professor, European Art since 1700, University of California, Berkeley.

In conjunction with the exhibition Manet and the Execution of Maximilian

Sign language–interpreted Gallery Conversations are held every fourth Sunday of the month at 1:30 p.m. FM headsets for sound amplification are available for all talks. Lectures are free with Museum admission. Groups are limited to twenty-five. Group stickers are distributed ten minutes prior to each Gallery Talk.

Tickets ($10; members $8; students and seniors $5) can be purchased at the lobby information desk and the Film desk, or online at www.ticketweb.com.