Oh, to see without our eyes: They’re back! (Not really. But almost!) President Barack and Michelle Obama’s National Portrait Gallery portraits were unveiled Monday morning. Painted by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, the portraits show both the former president and First Lady seated, surrounded by bold patterns and colors. In his remarks, Obama described himself as an impatient subject that tried to negotiate less gray hair and smaller ears. “The Hope poster by Shep [artist Shepard Fairey] was cool, but I didn’t sit for it. Nobody in my family as far as I can tell has had a portrait done,†Obama said. “I do have my high-school yearbook picture.â€
Obama thanked Sherald for capturing the “hotness†of his wife. Sherald’s portrait showed Michelle Obama in a Milly gown, sitting down against a light-blue background in the artist’s signature gray scale.
The buried lede here is that these portraits have arrived just in time for them to be your official Black Panther release-day inspo. Happy Black History Month.