> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Official Obama Portraits by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald Were Just Unveiled - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/official-obama-portrait-kehinde-wiley-amy-sherald-unveiled/ - Published: 2018-02-12T17:35:09.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T15:36:46.000Z - Description: The long-awaited portraits were presented at a ceremony today at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. The internet was quick to respond. - Author: Claire Voon - Tags: In Brief, Amy Sherald, Barack Obama, Kehinde Wiley, Michelle Obama, National Portrait Gallery, Presidential art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-18 14:37 (2018) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2018/02/npg-obamas-1620.jpg) Left: Barack Obama by Kehinde Wiley (2018) (image © 2018 Kehinde Wiley, courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution); right: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama by Amy Sherald (2018) (image courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution) This morning, Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery unveiled the official, [highly anticipated](https://hyperallergic.com/405738/kehinde-wiley-amy-sherald-obama-portraits-smithsonian/) portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama, painted, respectively, by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald. The former first couple and the artists were in attendance at the ceremony, held at the museum, to mark a historic moment: the paintings — beyond capturing the first black president and First Lady — represent the first-ever official presidential portraits executed by black painters. Wiley’s portrait of the 44th president depicts him seated against a lush backdrop of foliage, embodying the nobility and gravitas for which the New York-based painter is known. Upon its unveiling, Obama quipped that he looked “pretty sharp” and added, “I tried to negotiate less gray hair, and Kehinde’s artistic integrity would not allow him to do what I asked. I tried to negotiate smaller ears. Struck out on that as well.” Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama is more subdued but equally elegant, portraying her seated against a light blue backdrop, in a graphic dress by designer Michelle Smith. Michelle Obama said she was “thinking about all the young people — particularly girls and girls of color — who in years ahead will come to this place and they will look up, and they will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the wall.” The lesser known of the two artists (until she received this commission), Sherald, a Baltimore-based artist, was the first woman to ever win the National Portrait Gallery’s [Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition](https://portraitcompetition.si.edu/?ref=hyperallergic.com). “A personification of resilience herself,” as the museum describes her, “Sherald conveys the inner strength of her subjects through a combination of calm expressions and confrontational poses.” Barack Obama had a few choice words of praise for her as well, thanking Sherald during the ceremony “for so spectacularly capturing the grace and beauty and intelligence and charm and hotness of the woman I love.” The two portraits will be on view at the museum beginning tomorrow. While Wiley’s will join the institution’s [permanent exhibition](https://www.si.edu/Exhibitions/America%27s-Presidents-6150?ref=hyperallergic.com) of presidential portraits, Sherald’s will hang in its corridor of recent acquisitions through November 2018\. In the meantime, everyone on Twitter has an opinion about the paintings. Below are some initial reactions: > Here they are… the transformative and very modern portraits of the [#BarackObama](https://twitter.com/hashtag/BarackObama?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) [#michelleObama](https://twitter.com/hashtag/michelleObama?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) I love them. These will redefine what official portraiture will look like. [#myNPG](https://twitter.com/hashtag/myNPG?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) [pic.twitter.com/WN88dAQXXp](https://t.co/WN88dAQXXp?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — 🏳️‍🌈dcdulce 🏳️‍🌈 (@dcdulce) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/dcdulce/status/963079858434838530?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > Excuse the dramatic gasp. Kehinde Wiley's portrait of [@BarackObama](https://twitter.com/BarackObama?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) is literally breathtaking. [pic.twitter.com/9wgmViyp45](https://t.co/9wgmViyp45?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — Christina Coleman (@ChrissyCole) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/ChrissyCole/status/963075096524066816?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) https://twitter.com/MsPackyetti/status/963078607622037505https://twitter.com/dodaistewart/status/963078381817483266 > Obama's new portrait looks awfully familiar… [pic.twitter.com/S5wenGJTPq](https://t.co/S5wenGJTPq?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — Colleen Wordock (@cwordock) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/cwordock/status/963075270369562629?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > I love that [@MichelleObama](https://twitter.com/MichelleObama?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com)’s badass arms have a starring role her official portrait. [#myNPG](https://twitter.com/hashtag/myNPG?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) [pic.twitter.com/h9sDmHZiej](https://t.co/h9sDmHZiej?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — Robbie Sherwood (@RobbieSherwood) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/RobbieSherwood/status/963070931177320453?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) https://twitter.com/N\_du\_Time/status/963081070873890816 > if you're not using Barack and Michelle's portraits as Lock and Home screens, you're doing it wrong > > — link in bio (@broazay) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/broazay/status/963079602666164225?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > Other way round! His has a true place in art history, hers is a fashion illustration with a weird face. > > — Josh Spero (@joshspero) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/joshspero/status/963079993856348160?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > This is a beautiful portrait. It looks very little like Michelle Obama [pic.twitter.com/1CsRrWIJtN](https://t.co/1CsRrWIJtN?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/CillizzaCNN/status/963069514257764352?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > Michelle Obama when she seen the painted portrait of herself that looked nothing like her…. [pic.twitter.com/4P1dy4XFIB](https://t.co/4P1dy4XFIB?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — Dibiase\_ca and 10K others (@Dibiase\_ca) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/Dibiase%5Fca/status/963070576687333376?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > People snarking on the Michelle Obama portrait should really take 2 minutes to see it in the context of Amy Sherald's other portraits. [pic.twitter.com/CbDYTFey4V](https://t.co/CbDYTFey4V?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — Schooley (@Rschooley) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/Rschooley/status/963072464006791168?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > While I am curious about Michelle's decision not to wear a black designer – this Milly dress may be an homage the Gee's Bend Quilts. [https://t.co/OV8d1RkWM0](https://t.co/OV8d1RkWM0?ref=hyperallergic.com) [pic.twitter.com/hYKIp2UDkF](https://t.co/hYKIp2UDkF?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — kimberly rose drew (@museummammy) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/museummammy/status/963088185008955392?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > Yeah and the it doesn’t look like them critique is bogus. > > — Antwaun Sargent (@Sirsargent) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/Sirsargent/status/963094973972451334?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > wait no sean wat are you doing [pic.twitter.com/bLABp3wq4E](https://t.co/bLABp3wq4E?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — delrayser (@delrayser) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/delrayser/status/963076475661574144?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > I CANT BELIEVE WE ONCE HAD A PRESIDENT COOL ENOUGH TO BE PAINTED BY KEHINDE WILEY > > TRUMP'S PORTRAIT GON BE PAINTED BY THE LADY WHO DID THIS TO JESUS [pic.twitter.com/q5Ofi3EvR7](https://t.co/q5Ofi3EvR7?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — tracy clayton aka CHUBBA BEEF (@brokeymcpoverty) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/brokeymcpoverty/status/963084699039133696?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > The content the Internet was created to provide. [pic.twitter.com/afrBTHtnZg](https://t.co/afrBTHtnZg?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — Ian Sams (@IanSams) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/IanSams/status/963143774833709056?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) > It's certainly beautiful. I also have OCD [pic.twitter.com/ZpptAxXaFU](https://t.co/ZpptAxXaFU?ref=hyperallergic.com) > > — Andrew Kuo (@earlboykins) [February 12, 2018](https://twitter.com/earlboykins/status/963126442316967936?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=hyperallergic.com) https://twitter.com/kashanacauley/status/963122226131357697?ref\_src=twcamp%5Eshare%7Ctwsrc%5Eios%7Ctwgr%5Ecom.tinyspeck.chatlyio.share%7Ctwcon%5E7100%7Ctwterm%5E0