Typically on Fridays, Charles and I head home after work and manifest super chill homebody vibes. But last Friday, Charles ended up taking the day off to see a basketball game and I decided on a whim to meet him downtown afterwards so we could check out Michelle and Barack Obama’s portraits in the National Portrait Gallery.
By metro, the closest stops near the Portrait Gallery are either “Gallery Place- Chinatown” or “Metro Center”. The Chinatown stop is located right across the street from the Portrait Gallery while the Metro Center stop will involve a 5-minute walk.
A few things to note about the National Portrait Gallery:
– Admission is FREE
– It’s open from 11:30am-7:00pm daily
– It technically shares a building with the Smithsonian American Art Museum so make sure to enter on the F St. side.
We arrived at the Portrait Gallery around 6:30pm and made our way up the stairs to see Michelle’s portrait first.
Located on the 3rd floor in the Twentieth Century Americans wing, the wing was comfortably filled when we entered. (yellow star on the map above is where you can find it on the 3rd floor)
Can I make a confession?
When Michelle’s portrait was first revealed at the official unveiling ceremony in February, I was a little underwhelmed via the video and photos that were shared of the event.
I realize now that it was a case of bad lighting at the unveiling ceremony that made her portrait feel washed out… Because in person, the subtle tones and colors of her portrait are so much richer to behold. The painting beautifully portrays the signature “poise and cool/confidence” of Michelle that I so appreciated and loved when she was our First Lady.
I had never heard of Amy Sherald prior to this but am looking forward to seeing more of her work in the future.
Since we had less than 15 minutes before the museum closed at this point, we rushed downstairs to the American Presidents wing on the 2nd floor to see President Obama’s portrait. (yellow star on the map above is where you can find it on the 2nd floor)
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^^ Along the way, we spotted portraits of JFK and Clinton.
And then further down, we spotted a big crowd which was how we knew that we had arrived at the right spot.
Charles and I have been fans of Kehinde Wiley‘s work ever since we saw his exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts a few years ago. Known for his use of vibrant colors and taking traditional European paintings and replacing them with contemporary black figures, his work is striking and thought-provoking.
When we found out that he has been commissioned to do Obama’s portrait, we knew it was gonna be good. And man, it did not disappoint.
Seated amidst a garden with flowers native to Illinois, Hawaii and Kenya, Obama’s portrait is busy in a beautiful way. Kehinde Wiley described the portrait with this question “Who gets to be the star of the show? The story (the garden) or the man (Obama) who inhabits that story?” Ultimately, after viewing the portrait, I think the man who inhabits that story was the star.
Flash photography is a no-no at the Portrait Gallery which is why our photos are a little grainy. It was either 1) tap the iphone screen to focus on me and Charles which washed Obama’s portrait out or 2) Tap to focus on Obama’s portrait which made me and Charles have super low lighting.
Obviously, we chose the latter. :)
From what I hear, weekends are not ideal right now to go see Michelle and Obama’s portraits at the Portrait Gallery with there being lines that have an hour-long wait or more. I suggest either waiting a couple weeks for the trendiness of the portraits to die down or visit during a weekday if you can’t wait like us.
National Portrait Gallery – Website Here
xo, Setarra
P.S. Linking up with Wanderful Wednesday.
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