The secretary of the smithsonian institution. [applause] portraitherald, artist. [cheers and applause] wiley, portrait artist. [cheers and applause] mrs. Michelle obama [cheers and applause] president barack obama [cheers and applause] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the podium, the director of the Smithsonian National portrait gallery. Good morning. It is my pleasure as director to welcome you to the National Portrait gallery at the smithsonian institution. Every commissioned portrait involves four people. The personerson is with a largerthanlife persona, who may be curious to see how his are her likeness will be captured in perpetuity. In a spirit of building anticipation, i did a warm welcome to president barack obama and his wife, former first lady, Michelle Obama, who we honor today. [applause] the second person is the artist who tries in the face of public scrutiny to stay true to his or her own artistic style and still transmit a sense of the internal spirit to internal audiences. As much ays, reflection of themselves as an insight into their subject, the portrait artist must remain a poet,nd, to quote realize a character. In the spirit of that bravery, i am thrilled to welcome Kehinde Wiley and amy sherald and to our collection. This museum at the pleasure of 2008ng kehindes work in as part of the hiphop and contemporary portraiture exhibition. Amy sherald was a celebrated in 2016 when she became the first portraitwin our competition. They are taking the birth of portraiture traditions and adding a fresh layer by absorbing the influence of faction, music, hiphop, popculture, and inventiveness. Together, they are transmitting the energy of urban america into the contemplative spaces of high culture, and i, for one, am thrilled. The third person involved in making a commission is a patron, and as is tradition, we make an art match and then raise private funds to do the work. I am extraordinary grateful to all of those people across the country for whom we came for support and those who took the stephenip roles, spielberg and kate capshaw, judith kern, and others. Person, it is the fourth that is supposedly the most important, you, the viewer, and generations to come. At the end of the day, the sitters, the artists, and even the donors will sit here, but it is the audience that will remain. Every portrait, no matter when it was created, is contemporary, because it is completed when someone has a personal encounter in their time. Ultimately, these portraits will live to serve those millions of each of visitors looking for a mentor, some inspiration, and a sense of community. For this art museum, it is not what you look like that counts. It is what you do that matters. Of ahrough the skill talented artist providing a window into the life of a president and first lady, people learn history and their place in it, set the course of human events in context, find empathy for others, and perhaps create a sense of connection that leads them feeling a little less alone. Thank you. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please theome to the podium secretary of the smithsonian institution. [applause] good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on a very special day at the smithsonian. President obama, mrs. Obama, Vice President biden, amy, k kim, the provost, regions, commissioners, and distinguished guests, it is an honor and privilege to share this morning with you. As you probably know, we have to publications to celebrate today. First, president and mrs. Obama will unveil their official portraits. And second, today is abraham lincolns birthday. What you may not know is that president lincoln once credited a portrait with getting him elected. A photograph by the great Matthew Brady taken before lincolns famous speech at the cooper union in february 1860. In 1860, thiscans was the only lincoln they knew. The brady image appeared on the , in of harpers weekly newspapers across the country, and on buttons and leaflets throughout the campaign. Today that photograph is on display here at the National Portrait gallery. Lincoln may have given brady too much credit. There were probably a few other reasons he won the presidency. For example, i hear he was a pretty good speaker. But his comments reflected something that was true back then and remains true more than a century and a half later, president ial portraits have a particular power to capture the publics imagination, to move people to think about americas leaders and American Society itself in new and unexpected ways. This is why the portrait gallery has been collecting president ial portraits for 50 years, and it is why we have expanded the collection to include our nations first ladies. We are excited to continue both of those traditions today. I want to stop for a moment and ask you to join me in recognizing the ongoing innovations of the portrait gallery director and her magnificent colleagues who are intinually reimagining ways which the portrait gallery can inform and inspire the American Public and beyond. Kim, congratulations. [applause] if you think that just a little bit, you may remember another image that drew National Attention a couple of years ago. It captured a tender moment at the opening of the National Museum of African American history and culture. Former president george w. Bush was embracing, or rather, being embraced by first Lady Michelle obama. One headline called it the hug felt around the country. I can only speculate as to what exactly made that image so moving to so many people, but when i look at that picture today, i can see clearly some of the many qualities that millions of americans have admired and continued to admire and Michelle Obama for over a decade. Warms, her kindness, her ability to connect in real and meaningful ways with virtually everyone she encounters. As the first africanamerican woman to serve as first lady, Michelle Obama blazed the trail for women and girls of color, inspired callis women and men and children across the United States and around the world. During her eight years in the white house, she was a tireless advocate for causes that transcend partisan politics, fighting to end childhood obesity, encouraging young people to pursue a higher education, supporting our Service Members and their ensures, and working to the girls around the world can and will go to school. She dide impressive, all of this while raising two remarkable daughters and did it always with good humor and grace. [applause] dear to my heart, mrs. Obama also continues to be a devoted champion of the arts, and we everyhe arts so much in day in our lives. As first lady, she helped give africanamerican artists a greater presence on the walls of the white house, a commitment of her selection of amy sherald to paint her portrait reflects and one that we had the smithsonian here are so proud to share. Now it is my honor and privilege to invite mrs. Obama and amy sherald to unveil the portrait. [applause] [applause] [cheers and applause] mrs. Obama good morning, everyone. Lets just start by saying wow again. Lets just take a minute. It is amazing. Wow. How are you all doing . It is a pleasure and an honor tp e to be here in this Beautiful Museum today. Let me first think the secretary et for their remarks and outstanding leadership and everything they have done to support us, to support the arts over these many years. I also want to recognize all of our dear friends and colleagues and our team members and family who are here with us today, too many to mention. Is innd i know jill traffic, thank you. Thank you for being here. We love you. Hi, mom. What is going on . What do you think . It is pretty nice, isnt it . I see so many people that i can thank, people who have been with us on this journey. We love you all. Thank you for taking the time. I have to tell you that as i stand here today with all of you and look at this amazing portrait that will hang among so many iconic figures, i am a little overwhelmed, to say the least. I have so many thoughts and insides rolling around of me now. I am humbled, honored, proud, i am so of all, incredibly grateful to all of the people who came before me in this journey, the folks who built the Foundation Upon which i stand. As you may have guessed, i do not think there is anybody in my family who has ever had a artrait done, let alone portrait that will be hanging in the national gallery, at least as far as i know, mom. Folks who helped me be here today, they are with us physically, and there with us in spirit. I am thinking about my grandparents, rebecca and pernel southside, as he is known now throughout the nation. They were all intelligent, highly capable men and women. They had the kind of talent and work ethic that usually dustins people for greatness usually es people for greatness, but their dreams and aspirations were limited because of the color of their skin. I am thinking about my dad, n isier robinson, iii, a ma sacrificed everything to give me and my brother every opportunity that he never dreamed for himself. About my, i think mommy, marian robinson, who is sitting in the front row supporting us, like she has always done, always putting herself last on her list so that she could give me and craig and our children everything that makes today possible. I am also thinking about all of the young people, particularly who innd girls of color, years ahead will come to this place, and they will look up and will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the wall of this Great American institution. Yeah. [applause] mrs. Obama and i know the kind of impact that will have on their lives, because i was one of those girls. And when i think about those future generations and generations after, i think, what anow, wow, incredible journey we are on together in this country. We have come so far. Yes, as we see today, we still have a lot more work to do, but we have every reason to be hopeful and proud. And i am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to stand alongside my husband and play a very small part in that history and in that future. But i am even more proud of the extraordinary woman and artist who made this portrait possible. Amy sherald. [cheers and applause] mrs. Obama not yet. I have got more to say about you, girl. Barack and i had the privilege of considering a number of and inding portraitists, want to thank bill allman, thelma golden, michael smith, our team. We love you guys. I know you are out there. They guided us every step of the way. Oh, there you are. Of course i can see you guys. Thank you. They guided us through every step of the way through this process. We never could have done this without you, because you not only know your craft and all these folks but you know as intimately and knew what we were looking for and what we wanted to say. So thank you to the dynamic trio. With their help, we narrowed down the field to a few key artists who barack and i then interviewed. Each of these artists had to walk into the oval office i almost wanted to start off each conversation by apologizing for putting them through this process. I mean, just to get this job, they had to come to the white house, to the oval office, and andgrilled by the president first lady. I am sorry. I am so sorry. [laughter] mrs. Obama it was not lost on us how unnerving this experience was for each and every one of them. And when amy came in and it was her turn, have to admit that i was intrigued. I was intrigued before she walked into the room. I had seen her work and was blown away by the boldness of her colors and the uniqueness of a subject matters. So i was wondering, who is this woman, and she is so cute, too. [laughter] mrs. Obama and then she walked in, and she was sly and poised, and i just wanted to stare at her for a minute. Lightness and freshness of personality. She was hip and cool in that totally expected unexpected kind of way. Within the first few sentences of our conversation, i knew she was the one for me. Maybe it was the moment she came in and looked at barack and said, mr. President , i am really excited to be here. I know i am considered for both porches, but she said, mrs. Obama she physically turned to me and she said, i am really hoping that you and i can work together. [laughs] [applause] , sheobama and after that and i, we started talking, and barack kind of faded into the woodwork. There was an instant connection, that kind of six to girl that kind of sister girl connection, that i had with this woman, and that was true through the process, which is a good thing. Because when someone is doing her portrait, they spend hours staring at you. Yikes. It is very intimate, the experience, so you really have to trust the person and feel comfortable enough to let yourself go. And amy made that possible for me. We had that connection. So today, i want to thank amy for being willing to put herself through this process, especially after it was leaked i felt for you, girl you know, to to do that to paint a porch or of michelle and barack obama is like cooking thanksgiving dinner for strangers. Everybody has an idea of what thanksgiving dinner is supposed to taste like. The dressing that you love is the addressing you love. You do not want other stuff in it. [laughter] obama and that is what it is like. People know what they feel and think in how they see us, so amy had to interpret that and do it under the spotlight. So i can only imagine that it has been a little stressful for her, but she has handled it all with remarkable poise and grace, which i think tells you a lot about who she is. Woman ofviously a extraordinary talents, and it is thrilling to see her getting the recognition she deserves with all of the rewards and calls from museums and buyers lining up to purchase her work. Even more important, amy is a woman of extraordinary character and strength. Her cap has been st and as her path has been strewn with issues, andedical she has made tremendous sacrifices for the people she loves. She has endured the heartbreak of losing some of those that she loves, and all through it, she kept going. She stayed faithful to her gifts to she refused to give up on what she had to offer to the world. As a result, she is well on her way to distinguishing itself as one of the great artists of her generation. It was a total joy [applause] mrs. Obama it was a total joy to work with you, amy. Honored andsed and proud of you. So it is my honor to introduce amy to all of you today, the woman who created this beautiful portrait, amy sherald. [cheers and applause] amy good morning. Thanks for being here so early. Mrs. Obama, i want to begin by saying thank you. My vision,or seeing and thank you for being a part of my vision. And it American People, tell american stories through the paintings i create. I find my models. I styled them and photograph them. I then use that photograph as a reference. My approach to portraiture is conceptual. Once my paintings are complete, the model no longer lives in that painting is themselves. I see something bigger, more symbolic, an archetype. So approaching the commission with you as the subject is deeply connected to what i hold as much or as. As my truth. This portrait has the same symbolism. The dress was designed by milly. It hasnt abstract pattern that reminded me of a dutch artists geometric painting. The design also resembles inspired masterpieces made by the women of a small remote black community in alabama. To transformetry clothing and fabric remnants turned into masterpieces. Historianpher and wrote, you have engaged the imagination of a new generation of writers and artists as we chronicle the commanding role you played in American Culture pyramids ismrs. Obama, you were present in that way. You exist in our minds and hearts in the way that you do because we can see ourselves in you. Beingt of Michelle Obama her authentic self became a profound statement that engaged all of us, because what you represent to this country is an ideal, a human being with integrity, intellect, confidence and compassion. [applause] and the paintings i create aspire to express these attributes. A message of humanity. I would like to think they hold the same possibilities as being read universally. I will always be grateful for this opportunity to work with you. This experience has humbled and has honored an important me in ways that will stay with me, forever. Thank you again for bringing light and clarity to my journey as a painter of american stories and i truly consider today to be a defining milestone in my lifes work. [applause] and i just want to say, i am not crying. A quick thank you to my mom for supporting me all the way through. [applause] thank you mrs. Obama and thank you amy. Obama, you are aware that your wife is a tough act to follow. I hope that you are more prepared than i am. It is hard to believe that just 11 years have passed since barack obama laugh launched in president ial campaign abraham lincolns home town of springfield, illinois. Some of you might recall that when he addressed the crowd outside the old state capitol, the quoted a speech in which lincoln observed the strange discordant and even hostile elements that america confronted in 1858. Inauguration, his america faced challenges the could be described in quite similar terms. A Global Economic crisis. Wars in iraq and afghanistan. Rapid Technological Progress in the rising uncertainty that came with that progress. Of profoundiod change in the country and the world, president obama provided a steady leadership that millions of americans were seeking. He was a voice of calm in times of chaos. He was a voice of comfort in times of grief. He was a voice of confidence at all times, confidence in the resilience of the American People and the promise of a Better Future for all. Sense,important president obama historic election was a departure from it from americas past, but he also embodied the ideal that defines ideals that define some of the president s portrayed in these halls. Lincolns faith in our union. Kennedys commitment to public service. Reagans optimism that americas best days are still to come. For these reasons and more, barack obama was a very consequential for president. He will long be the subject of admiration and study and fascination. Lookfuture generations back at this presidency, i believe that the portrait will give them a unique window in a way that only president ial portraits can, a window into both the man and the moment when ,e led with such distinction and with that, please join me in inviting president barack obama to unveil the portrait. [applause] [laughter] pres. Obama good morning, everybody. It is wonderful to see all of you. How about that . [laughter] pres. Obama that is pretty sharp. It is my great honor to be here. I want to thank the secretary and kim for your outstanding leadership, the crown jewels of American Life and your extraordinary stewardship. I want to thank everybody who was here. Michelle and i are so grateful for the friends and family and former staff and current staff who have taken the time to be here and honor us in this way and soak in the extraordinary art that we are seeing here. It means so much to us, and i hope you are aware of that. We miss you guys. [laughter] pres. Obama we miss you guys, those whos the ways worked with us on this incredible journey carried your selves and worked so hard to make this country a better place. You forant to thank spectacularly capturing the grace and beauty and intelligence and charm and hotness of the woman i love. [laughter] pres. Obama a special shout out to my man, joe biden. [applause] pres. Obama an even more special sound out shout out to my motherinlaw. [applause] pres. Obama who in addition to providing the hotness genes. [laughter] been sucha also has andxtraordinary Rock Foundation stone for our family, and we are so grateful to her. [applause] pres. Obama like michelle, i have never had a portrait done of myself. But ipe poster was cool, did not sit for it. Nobody in my family tree as far as i can tell had a portrait done. I do have my High School Yearbook picture. [laughter] pres. Obama which is no great shakes. When i heard that this was part of the tradition, i did not quite know what to do. Michelle and i were somewhat confused. We were lucky to have some extraordinary friends and people with exam with exquisite taste, who gave us the assist and helped us to consider a whole range of artists. We had an immediate connection with the artists that are sitting here, today. I think it is fair to say that and i bonded maybe not in the same way, the whole soul sister thing. [laughter] pres. Obama we should cans we shook hands. He and i make different decisions. What we did find was that we had certain things in common. Both of us had american mothers who raised us with extraordinary love and support. Both of us who had african fathers who had been absent for many it for much of our lives. In some ways, our journeys involved searching for them and figuring out what that meant. I ended up writing about that journey and channeling it into the work i did because i cannot paint. [laughter] pres. Obama im sure that his feelingseflects those in his art. Struck by always whenever i saw his portraits was the degree to which they challenged our conventional views of power and privilege. And the way that he would take precisionary care and and vision in recognizing the beauty and the grace and the dignity of people who are so often invisible in our lives. And put them on a grand stage, on a grand scale. Force us to look and see them in ways that so often, they were not. People that michelle referred to, people in our families, who helped build this country, who helped build this capital, people who to this day are making sure that this place is food at night and serving and taking out the garbage and doing all the other stuff that makes this country work. So often, out of sight and out of mind. He lifted them up and gave them a platform and said they belonged at the center of American Life. That was something that moved me deeply because in my small way, that is part of what i believe politics should be about, not simply celebrating the high and , expecting that the country unfolds from the top down, but that it comes from the bottom up. [applause] pres. Obama families all across hard andho are working doing their best and passing on wisdom and resilience and stories to their children in the hopes that their lives will be a little bit better. About working with him. Lets face it, he was working at a disadvantage, because his subject was less becoming. Not as fly. [laughter] pres. Obama i want to say that michelle always used to joke. I am not somebody who is a great subject. I dont like posing. I get impatient, i look at my watch. One of those pictures mustve worked, why is this taking so long . , tryingetty torturous to just take a picture of me, much less paint a portrait. I will say that working with him was a great joy. Easy. His team made it of care toon hear how i thought about it before doing exactly what he. Ntended to do [laughter] pres. Obama there were a number of issues that we were trying to negotiate. I tried to negotiate less gray hair. s artisticehinde integrity would allow him to do what i asked. I tried to negotiate smaller ears. Struck out on that as well. Area where there were some concessions was as i often takes kehinde ordinary people and elevates and puts themm up in these fairly elaborate settings. His initial impulse was also to elevate me and put me in the settings with partridges and scepters. [laughter] pres. Obama thrones and robes. [laughter] mounting me on horses. [laughter] explainama i had to that i have enough political problems without you making me look like napoleon. We have to bring it down a touch. [laughter] pres. Obama and thats what he did. Judge something that is a portrait of you. Ist i can say unequivocally in awe ofe of i am kehindes gets. Gifts. We are both very grateful to have been the subject of their attention for this brief moment. [applause] kehinde how do you explain that a lot of that is just simply not true . [laughter] kehinde what is true is that this is an insane situation, to be will to stand on the stage and look out on this crowd and have this level of adrenaline in my blood tells me that Something Special is going on. My whole life is driven by chance. Much of the work i am known for is just chance driven, complete strangers in the streets. That havefind people thatse of grace, something you feel will translate on a painting on a museum wall. It is something you know, when you see it. You dont quite know what it is. People are minding their own business, trying to get to work and i will cap them on the shoulder and i will say do you mind if i paint you and people say most people say no. It is tough to get people to recognize what the gravity of art is. My job has been to slowly take these moments of chance and try to weave them into something that means something in the language of art history. These big museums are dedicated to what we as a society hold most dear. The great curators, their jobs are to be the guardians of culture, to say this is what we as a people stand for. Growing up as a kid in southcentral los angeles, going to the museums in l. A. , there were not too many people who happened to look like me and those museums, on those walls. As the years go on and i try to create my own type of work, it had to do with correcting for some of that, trying to find places where people who happened orlook like me feel accepted have the ability to express their state of grace on the grand narrative scale of the of museum space. Chance hasion with gotten me here, in a very strange chance since you, mr. President have found something in what i do, what my purpose has been as a creator, a thinker, a painter, to be able to project out into the world, this urge, this desire to see something corrected. It seems silly. It is a harry stick you are nudging into things. But it is not, this is consequential. This is our humanity. This is our ability to say i matter, i was here. The ability to be the first africanamerican painter to paint the first africanamerican president of the United States is absolutely overwhelming. [applause] kehinde it does not get any better than that. Humbled by this invitation, but i was also inspired by Barack Obamas personal story. We do have that echo of single thatts, african fathers, search for the father, that sense of twinning. There is that echo of he and i. When you look at this painting, sure, and amazingly handsome man seated, but there were also botanicals going on that is a nod towards his personal story. Chrysanthemums, the state the state flower of chicago. Toward that point kenya, toward hawaii. Very symbolically, what i am doing is charting his path on earth, through those plants. There is a fight going on between he and the foreground and the plants that are trying to announce themselves. Who gets to be the star of the show, the story or the man who inhabits that story . Driven. L chance i thank you for giving me a chance and i thank you for giving me giving the nation a chance to experience your splendor on a global scale. Thank you. [applause] kehinde i was so in this zone. Recognizing the real source of the light. My mother, can you please stand . Say. Is nothing i can this is where it all starts. We did not have much, but she andd a way to get paint i will shuty up and breathe. The ability to be able to picture something bigger than that piece of southcentral l. A. We were living in. You saw it, you did it, thank you. [applause] congress founded the National Portrait gallery to collect and display portraits of those who have made a significant contribution to americas history and culture. This year marks our 50th anniversary and as the secretary mentioned, today marks president lincolns 209th birthday. I wanted to thank all of the smithsonian and especially the natural portrait National Portrait gallery staff with particular appreciation to our curators. Tor and i sincerely hope that all of you here today will agree that the portrait gallery has an extraordinary mission, to visualize the great seal of america, out of many, one. We hope you continue to support our work, starting with this moment by posting on social media using mynpg. In yourld back celebratory and awestruck praise. I now hand the portraits over for photographs. Where do you want us . In front of the pictures. Pres. Obama right in the middle . Wherever you like. Pres. Obama hows that . [applause] pres. Obama you guys got everything you need . [laughter] [applause] want to leave i you with some of president lincolns words, to remind us that what we do in life, no matter who we are, counts. Said the president must have its cause. The past is the president is the cause of the present and the present will be the cause of the future. All of these are links and the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite. Thank you and thank you for being with us, this morning. [applause] president trumps budget request for the next fiscal year was delivered to congress this morning outside the House Budget Committee office