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| Rob & Tom in front of Pres. Obama's portrait |
On Feb. 12, 2018, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery unveiled its commissioned portraits of former President Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama by artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, respectively. It took us a YEAR to get there to see them, and they were worth the wait.
The portraits are in TWO different places in the museum. Former President Barack Obama's portrait can be seen in the America's Presidents gallery on the museum's second floor. Former First Lady Michelle Obama's portrait is featured in the 20th Century Americans gallery on the museum's first floor.ABOUT THE ARTIST AND PAINTING OF PRESIDENT OBAMA -Artist Kehinde Wiley is known for his vibrant, large-scale paintings of African Americans posing as famous figures from the history of Western art. This portrait does not include an underlying art historical reference, but some of the flowers in the background carry special meaning for Obama. The chrysanthemums, for example, reference the official flower of Chicago. The jasmine evokes Hawaii, where he spent the majority of his childhood, and the African blue lilies stand in for his late Kenyan father.
Kehinde Wiley (born 1977)/ Oil on canvas, 2018
ABOUT THE ARTIST AND PAINTING OF MRS. OBAMA - Mrs. Obama selected Amy Sherald, winner of the 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, to create her official portrait for the museum. The Baltimore-based artist considers the former first lady to be someone “women can relate to—no matter what shape, size, race, or color. . . . We see our best selves in her.” Here, she portrays Mrs. Obama as both confident and approachable, in a dress by Michelle Smith’s label Milly.
Amy Sherald (born 1973) / Oil on linen, 2018
NEXT: Part 3: 2 Portraits of Presidents from Massachusetts
