As if you didn’t need another reason to run to the National Portrait Gallery: a major new exhibition is coming to town next year. The museum will host a major exhibition of works by Amy Sherald, the American portrait painter who painted Michelle Obama’s official first lady portrait, next September.
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“Amy Sherald: American Sublime,” which debuted at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in April, will feature many new and old works in what the museum says is the “largest, most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work to date.” The commission makes Sherald the first contemporary Black artist to have a solo exhibition at the Portrait Gallery.
Sherald’s works focus on Black Americans in everyday settings, and she’s known for painting her subjects’ skin and faces in shades of gray. According to a news release, Sherald uses this technique, called grisaille, to “highlight race as a construct.” The exhibit will also delve into Sherald's process, which includes inviting people she sees or meets on the street to be photographed before she paints them.
Sherald is from Georgia, but she has major ties to the DMV. She received an MFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and works from her studio in Baltimore. The Portrait Gallery also played a key role in her rise in the art world: in 2016, Sherald won first place in the museum's prestigious Outwin Boocheever Portrait Competition for her 2014 work "Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance)." This portrait will return to D.C. as part of the exhibit, too.
The artist rose to international prominence when former first lady Michelle Obama commissioned Sherald to paint her official portrait in 2018. The painting, which is currently on display at the gallery, drew such large crowds that it had to be relocated to a larger space. It remains a popular draw to the museum.
See the exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery from September 19, 2025–February 22, 2026. Take a look at a few of Sherald's paintings below:
