Never has the internet had so many opinions about presidential and first lady portraits than that of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

The paintings created art critics out of the masses overnight. Among the several significant reasons these paintings deserve attention, is simply the fact that they fed the American nostalgia for the less chaotic days when Obama held office. Just for a moment, everyone found an escape in February 2018 in the paintings.

The portrait of Barack Obama is painted by Kehinde Wiley, the first queer African-American artist to be commissioned for an official presidential portrait. Just another one of many firsts for Obama’s presidential term. The significance of this portrait and the artist’s heritage is not lost on us. Wiley has been a well known artist in his own right, known for his paintings incorporating ordinary black figures and people of color in elaborate compositions drawing directly from previous historical paintings. This painting was an interesting reversal of that theme. He had the task of painting one of the most famous political figures in contemporary history but in a rather casual way. The painting takes the seated presidential stance and adds a twist.

The casual pose is contrasted by the intense gaze, and the typically masculine portrait is juxtaposed with flowers, usually associated with femininity. Staying true to his style, Wiley’s painting is rife with symbolism. Each flower points to specific biographical information about President Obama. The white jasmines rep Obama’s birthplace and childhood in Hawaii, the chrysanthemums pay tribute to Chicago, where Obama began his political career, and the African blue lilies refer to his father’s Kenyan heritage. While some have dismissed his pose as too “conventional”, the painting is far from it.  

Presidential portraits in the past have also featured symbolic objects. Usually they are holding paper or surrounded by stacks of books as they are important men who must return their attention to the important mess of papers on their desks immediately. This standing-by-the-desk motif borrows from a long tradition of European royalty also posing by desks overflowing with papers, like The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries. The most scandalous of symbols in a presidential portrait goes to Nelson Shanks’ portrait of Bill Clinton. The artist painted Clinton in a pose as quirky as the president’s personality but later revealed he added a little something else in the painting. Like Clinton’s presidency, the painting is tinged by the shadow of a blue dress, reflecting the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

The choice of artists for the Obama portraits was clearly intentional and this has done much to elevate both Wiley and Amy Sherald to the forefront of American art. Likewise, the Obamas were also the first presidential couple to bring contemporary art into the White House. Despite that one comment the president made about the art history job market, it is clear that he is a pretty big fan of art and art history.