Former President Barack Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, returned to the White House on Wednesday to unveil their official portraits in an event punctuated by wisecracks but tinged with history and politics.
Hosted by fellow Democrat President Joe Biden more than five years after Obama left office, the Obamas basked in applause from former staff members assembled in the East Room and lauded the artists for capturing their images, which will hang in the White House for generations to come.
Artist Robert McCurdy put Barack Obama, wearing a black suit and a gray tie, at the center of his canvas in a photorealistic portrait with a white background, while the former first lady is pictured in a blue dress in the White House’s Red Room, in a painting by Brooklyn artist Sharon Sprung.