The official portraits from the National Portrait Gallery of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama will begin a five-city national tour in Chicago next year.
What We Know:
- The gallery announced Tuesday that the Art Institute of Chicago will host the portraits from June 18, 2021, to August 15, 2021.
- Kehinde Wiley’s photo of Barack Obama and Amy Sherald’s photo of Michelle Obama were both unveiled in February of 2018. The artists both made history by becoming the first African-American artists chosen to paint the gallery’s official president and first lady portraits.
- Kim Sajet, director of the Washington gallery, released a statement saying that since the photos of the Obama’s were unveiled, the gallery has seen a record number of visitors.
- The painting of former President Barack Obama represented his background with Chrysanthemums (the official flower of Chicago), jasmine flowers which represent Hawaii where Barack was born, and African blue lilies for Barack’s father’s native country, Kenya.
- The paintings will soon depart from the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., for the first time since they were unveiled to the public two years ago.
After leaving Chicago, the portraits will travel to the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and then the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.
