But starting Wednesday, her face will grace the walls of America’s most famous address for as long as presidents continue to call it home. In their first visit as a couple to the White House since she left office in 2017, she and former President Barack Obama unveiled their official portraits in a ceremony in the East Room. While Oliver Cromwell wanted his warts painted on and all, Barack Obama has admitted to seeking some enhancements from artist Robert McCurdy – but to no avail. “You’ll note that she refused to hide any of my gray hairs,” he said. “My request to make my ears smaller was denied. He also forbade me to wear a tan suit.’ As a result, McCurdy – whose past subjects have included Nelson Mandela, Jeff Bezos, Toni Morrison, Muhammad Ali and Neil Armstrong – depicted the former president standing expressionless in a black suit against a white background, so different from Kehinde’s version Wiley for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery of Obama floating in vegetation and flowers. Meanwhile, Sharon Sprung painted Michelle Obama sitting on a couch in the Red Room of the White House wearing a formal blue dress. Her husband thanked the artist “for capturing everything I love about Michelle: her grace, her intelligence and the fact that she’s okay.” In it Michelle looked half-satisfied, half-embarrassed as the audience, packed with nostalgic Obama alumni and Joe Biden officials, laughed and screamed. The unveiling revived a bipartisan tradition that was last held a decade ago, but because it’s the Obamas, no portrait is a simple line, nor just a cold and lonely, magnificent work of art. It’s also a metaphor for America and who tells its story. Hearing them deliver remarks after Biden was a reminder that while the current president speaks in prose, the Obamas speak poetry. As first lady for eight years, Michelle once remarked that she woke up every morning in a house built by slaves. On Wednesday, she became the first African-American woman to be preserved for posterity in a portrait of the first lady. He admitted he was never comfortable in the role of political symbol – but understands its importance for future generations. “To me, this day is not just about what has happened,” she said, wearing braids, a painting of founding father and slave owner George Washington over her left shoulder. “It’s also about what could have happened because a girl like me, she should never have been up there with Jacqueline Kennedy and Dolley Madison. She should never have lived in this house, and she certainly shouldn’t have served as first lady.” Someone in the audience yelled, “We love you, Michelle!” There was spontaneous applause. Barak, who was standing to her right, appeared suddenly moved. Watched by her mother, Marian Robinson, in the front row, Michelle described the portraits of a “bisexual child with an unusual name” and “the daughter of a water pump operator and a stay-at-home mother” as proof that people don’t need to make a lot of money or come from a certain group or class or creed to fit in. “Because, as Barack said, if the two of us end up on the walls of the most famous address in the world, then again, it’s so important for any young kid who doubts himself to believe that he can too. This is what this country is about.” Indeed, Michelle insisted in a voice shaking with emotion, the day wasn’t about her or her husband, or even the portraits. “It’s about telling that fuller story, a story that includes every American in every corner of the country, so that our children and grandchildren can see more than just themselves. “And as much as some would like us to believe that this story has lost some of its luster, that division and discrimination and whatever else might have dimmed its light, I still know, deep in my heart, that this that we share The husband keeps saying it’s much bigger than what we don’t. He added: “Our democracy is far stronger than our differences, and this little girl from the South Side is blessed beyond measure to have felt the truth of this fuller story throughout her life — never more so than today.” . Such grace notes seemed to be living proof that Michelle Obama remains the antithesis of Donald Trump, the living antithesis of his dark nativist vision and an administration run by privileged white men. It was an open invitation to “Michelle for president” dreamers, though she was always adamant it wouldn’t happen. And they made the assumption that these two beautiful, fragile paintings would prove more valuable than anything else by Rembrandt or Van Gogh.
