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# Kevin Spacey Temporarily Joins George Washington at the National Portrait Gallery
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/national-portrait-gallery-temporarily-trades-george-washington-for-kevin-spacey/
- Published: 2016-04-06T00:02:37.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:14:21.000Z
- Description: WASHINGTON, DC — In February, the National Portrait Gallery unveiled with presidential pomp a portrait of Kevin Spacey as Frank J. Underwood, dark prince of politics in the popular Netflix series House of Cards.
- Author: Margaret Carrigan
- Tags: Art, Review, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:17 (2016, 2017, part 1)

![Jonathan Yeo's "Kevin Spacey as President Francis J. Underwood" (2015) installed at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/04/spacey-underwood-npg.jpg)

Jonathan Yeo’s “Kevin Spacey as President Francis J. Underwood” (2015) installed at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

WASHINGTON, DC — In February, the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) [unveiled with presidential pomp](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz8BouHnX9I&ref=hyperallergic.com) a portrait of Kevin Spacey as Frank J. Underwood, dark prince of politics in the popular Netflix series [*House of Cards*](https://www.netflix.com/title/70178217?ref=hyperallergic.com). The painting is a collaboration between the museum and [Jonathan Yeo](http://jonathanyeo.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the artist behind such other high-profile portraits as those of Tony Blair, Malala Yousafzai, and — yes — [another of Kevin Spacey](http://jonathanyeo.com/work/kevin-spacey-as-richard-iii/?ref=hyperallergic.com). It will greet visitors at the museum’s G Street entrance through October.

The NPG, fine establishment of US history and culture that it is, doesn’t let just anyone grace its walls. Its distinguished collection [showcases](https://npg.si.edu/about-us?ref=hyperallergic.com) the icons who have shaped our national identity. While many of these important folks are indeed presidents and politicians — and real people — there are a few fictional characters already included, among them Ethel Merman as Annie Oakley in *Annie Get Your Gun* and Robin Williams as Mork in *Mork & Mindy*.

For his contribution, Yeo depicts the cunning *House of Cards* character at life-size: Underwood looks down on you snidely from his six-by-six-foot frame. His legs are crossed in such a way that his left foot could deal a swift kick to your ribs if occasion called for it. Yeo’s palette is subdued, almost ominous: muddled browns, blacks, and blues dominate the foreground, while a pale gray sfumato obscures the Oval Office furniture in the background.

But like a lot of Yeo’s [celebrity portraiture](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3435499/Did-Cara-quit-modelling-session-halfway-No-paintings-Britain-s-portrait-artist-meant-look-like-this.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), the surface of the canvas is just a reflection of the thousands of images we’ve already seen of this personality. Spacey as Underwood is plastered all over the US right now in a similarly smug mock campaign poster, which makes Yeo’s portrait great advertising — not great art. Little of the actor’s real-life affectations shine through, which is a shame, since Spacey is one of the more memorable actors of his generation, having racked up accolades and awards [almost annually](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000228/awards?ref=hyperallergic.com) for two decades straight.

In fact, when the NPG contacted Yeo to request a portrait of the actor, it seems to have been less interested in immortalizing Spacey’s dramatic gravitas, or even his presidential character’s addictive misandry. In a [press release](http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/art-imitates-life-portrait-president-francis-underwood-unveiled-smithsonian-s-national-port?ref=hyperallergic.com) issued the day after the painting was unveiled, the museum points to the release of the full *House of Cards* series on Netflix as significant.

“This precipitated a revolution in television and has been credited with creating a fundamental shift in audience viewing habits by releasing an entire season of a series at once,” the statement reads. Oh, let us pledge our allegiance to the land of the free and the home of the couch-bound binge-watcher!

Indeed, Yeo seems to have tried to capture the sense of sitting in front of a TV within the portrait. The fuzzy horizontal lines that coyly streak the canvas recall static from long ago, when tube televisions were still a thing. The glory of digital services like Netflix, however, would have been better conveyed through lightly brushed circles evoking a stuck loading screen. Or perhaps the artist could have annoyingly pixelated part of Spacey’s face.

Nevertheless, the portrait’s eight-month-long display celebrates our nation’s most beloved current pastime: sitting in front of a screen. It also reveals our appetite for sensational politics, which should come as no surprise amid this rodeo of an election season. We the people were once sated by Underwood’s make-believe underworld; we delighted in episodic samplings of his deviant dealings and horrifying hubris. Now we gorge until we’re sick on a buffet of racist, xenophobic, and misogynist statements from actual presidential contenders. The characters of *House of Cards* [seem almost banal](http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/house-of-cards-season-4-is-less-vulgar-than-real-politics?mbid=social%5Ffacebook&ref=hyperallergic.com) by comparison!

With the reputation of our nation’s highest office in question thanks to grown men making [dick jokes](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/marco-rubio-donald-trump-penis-size%5Fus%5F56d989c1e4b0000de40428d4?ref=hyperallergic.com), perhaps the NPG is wise to focus on the one unifying force in America right now: [Netflix and chill](http://fusion.net/story/190020/netflix-and-chill/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Should [a donor](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/frank-underwoods-presidential-portrait-goes-view-national-portrait-gallery-180958212/?ref=hyperallergic.com) with an appreciation for streaming services come forward, Yeo’s Underwood portrait could become a part of the national collection forever.

*Jonathan Yeo’s “*[*Kevin Spacey as President Francis J. Underwood*](http://npg.si.edu/exhibition/kevin-spacey-president-francis-j-underwood?ref=hyperallergic.com)*” is on view at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (8th St & F St NW, Washington, DC) through October 16.*

**Correction:** *This article originally misstated that the portrait of Kevin Spacey as Frank J. Underwood was temporarily hanging in place of a painting of George Washington. We regret the error, and it has been fixed.*