The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco presents the portraits of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama by artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald.
The exhibit is part of “The Obama Portraits Tour” organized by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The portraits will be on view at the de Young museum from June 18 to August 14, 2022. The installation will also include an eight-minute-long video featuring the curator and artists discussing the historical and artistic significance of the portraits.
The paintings were commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery and unveiled February 12, 2018, in the presence of the Obamas and the artists. Wiley and Sherald are the first African American artists to have been selected for the Portrait Gallery’s official portraits of a President or First Lady. The two artists worked independently from each other; however, in painting these two portraits Wiley and Sherald effectively re-envisioned the centuries-long tradition of representing political leaders. Before photography, painted portraits often served as the primary image of a U.S. president.
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