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Obama Portraits Unveiled at National Portrait Gallery

“It’s pretty torturous just trying to take a picture of me, much less paint a portrait,” laughed former President Barack Obama as he spoke at the unveiling of his and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s traditional portraits at the National Portrait Gallery.

Kehinde Wiley, the first African American painter to paint the first African American President of the United States, called the excitement of the day’s ceremony “an insane situation,” and described the portrait painting experience as “overwhelming” saying it simply “doesn’t get any better than that.”

President Obama thanked both Wiley and his wife’s portrait artist (Baltimore’s Amy Sherald) with appreciation: “We are both very grateful to have been the subject of their attention for this brief moment.”