They’ll now make stops in San Francisco and Boston before they return to DC.
The Smithsonian’s famous portraits of former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama will remain on tour through October, the National Portrait Gallery announced Wednesday. The former president’s portrait, painted by Kehinde Wiley, and the former first lady’s portrait, painted by Amy Sherald, were originally scheduled to return to Washington this summer. Now they’ll make a summer stop at San Francisco’s de Young Museum and an autumn visit to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The Portrait Gallery has events planned when the popular works return to the nation’s capital after a long stretch on the road since their 2018 unveiling.
“The Obama Portraits Tour” will stop the de Young Museum in San Francisco in June and at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts in September through October. The tour was originally scheduled to wrap up in May.
The pieces by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald — the first Black artists chosen to create the National Portrait Gallery’s official portraits of a president or first lady — made a splash when they were unveiled in Washington in 2018. Sherald’s portrait, along with Wiley’s oil-on-canvas, haven’t been back in the nation’s capital since last year, when they went on display as part of a five-city tour starting in the ex-commander in chief and former first lady’s hometown of Chicago.
