Portraits of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama are on tour across the country — and they’re going to spend a few more months away from home.
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery says its national tour of the two portraits by artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald has been extended through October, with the addition of stops at San Francisco’s de Young Museum and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts this summer and fall.
“The very presentation of ‘The Obama Portraits Tour’ and the collaboration of eight premier institutions — the Portrait Gallery included — amid a pandemic speaks to the power of portraiture to bring audiences together,” Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said in a news release Wednesday.
“We look forward to further engaging West Coast audiences with the tour’s presentation at the de Young Museum, and exploring these contemporary paintings in the context of Boston’s long-standing tradition of portraiture during their time at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.”
The portraits of the Obamas were commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery and unveiled in 2018. They’ve been on national tour since last June — the Smithsonian says their recent display at the Art Institute of Chicago consistently broke daily attendance records.
Upcoming opportunities to see the portraits include the following:
- High Art Museum, Atlanta: On view through March 20;
- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: April 2 to May 30;
- de Young Museum, San Francisco: June 18 to Aug. 14;
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Sept. 3 to Oct. 30.
More information on current and future exhibitions is available on the gallery’s website.
