Pageant of the Masters Closes Its “Greatest of All Time” Season
The 2026 production turned 40 of art history’s most famous works into living pictures nightly from July 9 through Sept. 4 at the Irvine Bowl.
The Pageant of the Masters wrapped its 2026 season on Sept. 4, closing a summer run of "The Greatest of All Time" that played nightly at the Irvine Bowl from July 9. The production, the centerpiece of the Festival of Arts of Laguna Beach, asked audiences to judge which artworks deserve the G.O.A.T. title, then made the case on stage.
The Pageant’s signature is the tableau vivant, the living picture: real people posed on stage to recreate masterpieces with astonishing accuracy, backed by elaborate sets, lighting, costumes, narration and a live orchestra. This year’s 90-minute show assembled 40 works, each chosen, in director Diane Challis Davy’s words, for technique, influence or power to move viewers centuries later. "Do I really think the history of art has one artwork that can be considered the greatest of all time? No!" Challis Davy said. "But that’s exactly what makes this show so exciting."
The season’s living pictures spanned Rome’s Trevi Fountain, designed by architect Nicola Salvi, and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., with Daniel Chester French’s monumental sculpture of Abraham Lincoln. Paintings and sculptures by Michelangelo, Diego Velazquez, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo and Norman Rockwell shared the stage, with Challis Davy naming John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer among her personal favorites.
"This year’s production celebrates the artists and artworks that have stood the test of time and continue to inspire generations," Challis Davy said. "Whether you’re an art lover, a first-time visitor, or someone who has attended for decades, The Greatest of All Time offers a chance to experience these masterpieces in an entirely new way."
The 2,600-seat Irvine Bowl amphitheater, at 650 Laguna Canyon Road, has hosted the Pageant since its early years. The Festival of Arts dates to 1932, when local artists staged a downtown exhibition during the Depression; the Pageant premiered the following year and has run almost every summer since, making it one of the oldest continuously produced theatrical events in the country.
This summer’s Fine Art Show, the daytime companion to the Pageant, ran a two-month season with more than 100 Orange County artists exhibiting painting, sculpture, photography and mixed media on the festival grounds. A Pageant ticket included same-day admission to the show, pairing the region’s working artists with art history’s greatest hits in a single evening.
The season began, as always, with volunteers. An open casting call in January invited people of all ages to sign up for on-stage and backstage roles, with no experience required, alongside a two-day Family Fun Fest on the festival grounds. It is a reminder that the Pageant, for all its spectacle, is built each year by the same community that fills the bowl.
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