Paintings Of Barack And Michelle Obama Coming To LACMA

click to expand

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The official portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama are coming to Los Angeles.

The paintings, which were unveiled in 2018 as part of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, will go on tour in June 2021 and spend two months at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Five cities. Two portraits. One tour.

The #ObamaPortraitsTour comes to LACMA from the @smithsoniannpg 11/5/2021. pic.twitter.com/CszZpckN9K
— LACMA (@LACMA) January 23, 2020

Since they were unveiled, Los Angeles native Kehinde Wiley's portrait of President Obama and Amy Sherald's portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama have "inspired unprecedented responses from the public," according to a statement from the National Portrait Gallery announcing the tour.

TOPSHOT - Former US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama stand beside their portraits after their unveiling at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, February 12, 2018. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

The paintings regularly draw lines of people at the National Portrait Gallery. Two-year-old Parker Curry went viral in 2018 after another museum-goer posted a picture of her on social media, staring in awe of the towering portrait of Michelle Obama. The experience inspired Parker's mother to write a book, which went on to become a New York Times Bestseller.

The portrait's five-city will start in Chicago, and will also make stops in Brooklyn, Atlanta and Houston. The portraits are scheduled to be at LACMA from Nov. 5, 2021 through Jan. 2, 2022.