The de Young Museum is proud to present the portraits of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama by artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, as part of The Obama Portraits Tour organized by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. 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.