Barak and Michelle Obama's Official Portraits
Former President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama are joining the ranks of other former presidents and first ladies at the National Portrait Gallery. The official portraits of the former first couple were unveiled today in Washington D.C.
The National Portrait Gallery posted a video of Barack unveiling his portrait on Twitter:
“Look at that. Pretty sharp.” -President @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/jV4cd4gJau
- Portrait Gallery (@NPG) February 12, 2018
A similar video of Michelle uncovering her portrait was shared by C-SPAN:
.@MichelleObama's portrait at the National Portrait Gallery pic.twitter.com/z0qi3cHf32
- CSPAN (@cspan) February 12, 2018
Barack Obama's portrait is by New York-based artist Kehinde Wiley. Michelle's portrait was painted by Baltimore-based Amy Sherald, who won the Portrait Gallery’s 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, AP News reports. Wiley and Sherald are the first African-American artists commissioned to paint official portraits of a presidential couple for the National Portrait Gallery. The Obamas chose Wiley and Sherald from a portfolio of roughly 20 artists submitted to the couple by the Gallery's curators, the New York Times reports.
The works will join the complete collection of presidential portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, according to Time. Barack's portrait will be placed in the hall of presidents in the "American Presidents" exhibition, while Michelle's portrait will join another gallery, CNN reports. Both portraits will go on public display tomorrow, February 13.
