Barack & Michelle Obama Unveil Their National Gallery Portraits

Today, @KehindeWiley and @ASherald became the first black artists to create official presidential portraits for the Smithsonian. To call this experience humbling would be an understatement. Thanks to Kehinde and Amy, generations of Americans — and young people from all around the world — will visit the National Portrait Gallery and see this country through a new lens. They’ll walk out of that museum with a better sense of the America we all love. Clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Inclusive and optimistic. And I hope they’ll walk out more empowered to go and change their worlds.

Hand picked by Barack Obama, artist Kehinde Wiley has painted his portrait that will hang at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Michelle Obama was painted by Amy Sheridan the artist of her choice as well.