Obamas pick artists to paint their Smithsonian portraits

The Smithsonian has commissioned two artists to paint the official portraits of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama that will hang in the National Portrait Gallery. 

Kehinde Wiley, an artist known for his large-scale paintings of black men, will paint the former president, and Amy Sherald, who won the Portrait Gallery’s 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, will paint the former first lady.

The Portrait Gallery is absolutely delighted that Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald have agreed to create the official portraits of our former President and First Lady,” Kim Sajet, the director of the Portrait Gallery, said in a statement.

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“Both have achieved enormous success as artists, but even more, they make art that reflects the power and potential of portraiture in the 21st century,” she added. 

The two artists were selected by the Obamas themselves. Wiley has gained notoriety for his portraits of young black men that channel classical works.

Sherald’s work “challenges stereotypes and probes notions of identity through her life-size paintings of African Americans,” the Smithsonian said in a statement.

The Smithsonian commissions portraits of the president and first lady for its Portrait Gallery at the end of each presidency – a tradition that began with George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush.