See Barack and Michelle Obama's Official White House Portraits

For the past few decades, the official portraits of former presidents and first ladies have been unveiled by their successors at the White House in their first term. Yet, for former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, they had to wait until their successor's successors.

Today, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden welcomed the Obamas back to the White House for a delayed unveiling of their official portraits.

The portraits were commissioned by the White House Historical Association; the Association has organized the presidential portraits since the 1960s. The artists are typically kept under wraps until the ceremony; today, the public learned that Robert McCurdy painted Barack Obama and Sharon Sprung painted Michelle Obama.

"I want to thank Sharon Sprung for capturing everything I love about Michelle: her grace, her intelligence, and the fact that she’s fine," the former president said during the ceremony. "And I want to thank Robert McCurdy for taking on a much more difficult subject." Obama also jokingly said the artist "talked me out of wearing a tan suit."

Obama said that McCurdy's photo-realistic approach to portraits appealed to him. "Presidents so often get airbrushed, they even take on a mythical status, especially after you’ve gone and people forget all the stuff they didn’t like about you," Obama said. "But what you realize when you’re sitting behind that desk—and what I want people to remember about Michelle and me—is that presidents and first ladies are human beings like everyone else."

He continued, "When future generations walk these halls and look up at these portraits, I hope they get a better honest sense of who Michelle and I were. And I hope they leave with a deeper understanding that if we could make it here, maybe they can, too. They can do remarkable things, too."

The last White House portrait unveiling took place in 2012, when the Obamas welcomed former president George W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush back to the White House. Like the other portraits of presidents and first ladies before them, the Obama's portraits will hang permanently in the White House.

Both of the Obamas spoke at the ceremony today in the White House's East Room.

"Too often in this country, people feel like they have to look a certain way or act a certain way to fit in. That they have to make a lot of money or come from a certain group or class or faith in order to matter, but what we’re looking at today, a portrait of a biracial kid with an unusual name and the daughter of a water pump operator and a stay-at-home mom, what we are seeing is a reminder that there’s a place for everyone in this country," Michelle Obama said in her remarks.

The former first lady continued, "As Barack said, if the two of us can end up on the walls of the most famous address in the world, then, again, it is so important for every young kid who is doubting themselves to believe that they can too. That is what this country is about."

Here, take a closer look at the two portraits:

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