Marcus Chen
Amy Sherald, an American artist, painted the official portrait of former US First Lady Michelle Obama. Sherald is known for her portraits of Black Americans, and her work with Obama is no exception. The portrait of Obama is a celebration of her identity and a powerful statement about representation. Sherald's use of colour, specifically the choice to paint Obama's skin in grey tones, has been a point of discussion and critique. However, the artist's intention was to reference nineteenth-century photographic traditions and challenge notions of race and humanity. The portrait has sparked conversations about the role of art in shaping narratives and upending assumptions about representation and power.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Artist Name | Amy Sherald |
| Exhibition | American Sublime |
| Gallery | SFMOMA, Whitney Museum of American Art |
| Medium | Oil on linen |
| Year | 2018 |
| Size | 72 1/8 × 60 1/8 × 2.5 in. (183.1 × 152.718 × 6.3 cm) |
| Gallery Location | Gansevoort Street, New York |
| Portrait Unveiling | Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery |
| Donor | Kate Capshaw, Steven Spielberg, Judith Kern, Kent Whealy, Tommie L. Pegues, Donald A. Capoccia |
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What You'll Learn
Artist Amy Sherald's background
Artist Amy Sherald was born on August 30, 1973, in Columbus, Georgia, to dentist Amos P. Sherald III and Geraldine W. Sherald. She developed an early interest in art as a schoolchild, often drawing during recess and adding images to her sentences. Sherald studied at St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School in Columbus before enrolling at Clark Atlanta University, where she initially pursued a pre-med track at her parents' behest. However, she soon discovered her passion for art and painting, which led her to cross-register for a painting class at Spelman College. This decision proved pivotal, as she was introduced to the work of Panama-born artist and art historian Arturo Lindsay, who influenced her artistic trajectory.
Sherald's upbringing in the South and her experience as one of the few Black children in her private school shaped her perspective on race and social cues. She recalls her mother's advice: "'You're different from everybody else [...] You need to speak a certain way and act a certain way.' That's what my mom told me on the first day of school." This awareness of racial identity as a performance in response to external forces would later become a defining theme in her artwork.
After completing her BA in painting from Clark-Atlanta University, Sherald went on to earn her MFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. During her time in Baltimore, she studied with Abstract Expressionist Grace Hartigan, and her artistic focus shifted from autobiographical subjects to a critical examination of African American cultural history and representation. She participated in residencies around the world, including Beijing, China, and Oranjestad, Aruba, further broadening her artistic horizons.
Sherald's artistic style is known for its use of grayscale to depict skin tones, challenging the concept of color-as-race. Her portraits often feature individuals she meets on the street, incorporating their facial expressions, body language, and clothing choices to create imaginative portraits that transcend beyond traditional portraiture. Sherald's work has been exhibited at renowned institutions such as Art Basel Miami, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her talent and unique approach to portraiture earned her numerous awards, including being the first woman and first African American to win the National Portrait Gallery's Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition in 2016.
In 2018, Sherald's career reached new heights when she was selected by First Lady Michelle Obama to paint her official portrait for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. This commission, alongside Kehinde Wiley's portrait of Barack Obama, marked a significant milestone as they became the first African-American artists to receive presidential portrait commissions from the National Portrait Gallery. Sherald's portrait of Michelle Obama sparked conversations about representation and challenged traditional notions of portraiture, solidifying her place as one of America's defining contemporary portraitists.
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Sherald's artistic process
Artist Amy Sherald is known for her portraits of Michelle Obama, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans. Her work centres around the everyday Black American experience, challenging the idea that Black life and identity are solely tethered to grappling with social issues. Sherald's portraits are more than traditional portraits—they are precisely crafted narratives of American life.
A key aspect of Sherald's artistic process is her use of grayscale or grisaille to paint skin tones. By using a range of grey shades instead of flesh tones, Sherald challenges the concept of colour as race. This technique is connected to the artist's early personal experiences and echoes 19th- and 20th-century black-and-white photographic portraits.
Sherald's work is also influenced by her interest in art history. She considers herself an inheritor of the American Realist tradition, but instead of focusing on the lives of everyday white Americans, she privileges a population that has been historically omitted from art history and visual representation. By doing so, she invites viewers to think more broadly about American Realism and the complexities of American identity.
Sherald's portraits are often set in whimsical, nondescript settings with occasional surreal details that add a bit of satire. These dreamlike backgrounds create what the artist refers to as "the amorphous personal space of my own existence within the context of black identity and my search for ways to clarify and ground it."
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The portrait's colour palette
The official portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama was painted by Amy Sherald and unveiled alongside the portrait of her husband, former President Barack Obama, painted by Kehinde Wiley. Sherald's portrait of Michelle Obama is notable for its use of a grayscale colour palette for the subject's skin, a technique known as grisaille. This unusual choice of palette has a profound meaning, as it invites viewers to contemplate the subject's race and humanity. The use of grey tones, instead of natural skin tones, both reduces and draws attention to the subject's skin colour, highlighting her racial identity. The colour palette also references nineteenth-century photographic traditions, where the emerging medium allowed free African Americans to celebrate and represent themselves.
The dress worn by Michelle Obama in the portrait is also a notable feature, dominating the composition with its bright red colour. The reddish-brown colour of the dress is reflected in the subject's skin tone, as identified by colour analysis tools. The background of the portrait is also notable for its dreamlike, whimsical, and nondescript quality, which adds a surreal element to the portrait.
The colour palette of the portrait of Barack Obama, painted by Kehinde Wiley, is also noteworthy. It features a dark blue suit, lilac accents, and a dark green background. The colour palette is a radical break from the colour palettes of previous presidential portraits.
The colour palettes of both portraits were analysed using various online colour extraction tools, including DeGraeve, Photoshop, Canva, and ColorExplorer. These tools identified a range of colours, including light and dark browns, reds, greens, blues, and yellows.
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The portrait's critical reception
Michelle Obama's official portrait, painted by Baltimore-based artist Amy Sherald, received a mixed critical reception. The painting drew criticism for its artistic and stylistic choices, including the colours, the dress, and the decision to depict Obama with bare arms and unnaturally coloured skin. Some critics questioned the use of gray skin tones, with comments such as "it doesn't look like her".
However, others defended the portrait, arguing that it represented a bold assertion of political power and equality for Black women in the White House. Historian Martha Jones supported this interpretation, stating that the portrait connects Michelle Obama to the complex legacy of Black women in the White House and their political influence.
The portrait has also been well-received by the public, with reports of enthusiastic reactions from visitors to the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, where the painting is exhibited. The portrait, along with Kehinde Wiley's portrait of President Barack Obama, has contributed to a significant increase in attendance at the museum.
Amy Sherald, the artist, has acknowledged the criticism but remains steadfast in her artistic choices. She has described her work as a meditation on photography and a way to address the history of representation of African Americans in art. Sherald's use of grayscale skin tones, for example, challenges the concept of colour as race and draws on nineteenth-century photographic traditions where free African Americans crafted their own unique identities through photography.
Overall, while the portrait of Michelle Obama by Amy Sherald sparked initial controversy, it has also sparked important conversations about representation, power, and equality, solidifying its place as an important work of contemporary art.
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Sherald's career post-portrait
Amy Sherald's career received a significant boost after painting Michelle Obama's portrait, with her work attracting wider notice and acclaim. In 2018, the same year her portrait of Obama was unveiled, Sherald had her first museum solo exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. She also became a household name, with her work described as among the most iconic pieces of American visual art of the past 25 years.
Sherald's portrait of Obama sparked impassioned reactions and critiques, with some criticising the work for being less formal than expected, and for Obama's skin being depicted in grayscale. Sherald defended her artistic choices, stating that she wanted to encourage viewers to see Obama as a person in her entirety, rather than solely through her racial identity.
In the years following the Obama portrait, Sherald's work continued to gain recognition and achieve significant milestones. In December 2020, her piece "The Bathers" (2015) sold at auction for $4,265,000, almost 30 times the presale estimate. The following year, her 2012 painting "Welfare Queen" sold for $3.9 million, sparking discussions about resale royalties for artists.
In 2024, Sherald's work was featured in her first major museum survey at the Whitney Museum, showcasing her iconic portraits and new works. Sherald's exhibition "American Sublime" at SFMOMA in 2025 presented nearly 50 of her luminous paintings, including her portraits of Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor, early works, and new pieces. Sherald's work continues to be celebrated as one of America's defining contemporary portraitists, expanding the canon of American art and reframe our understanding of American culture.
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Frequently asked questions
Artist Amy Sherald painted the official portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama.
The portrait is titled "Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama".
The portrait was painted in 2018.
The portrait is displayed at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
Sherald, known for her portraits of everyday African Americans, was chosen because the Obamas wanted more than just a likeness of themselves. They wanted important works of contemporary art.
