Obama selected New-York based Kehinde to paint his presidential portrait, as following a tradition that started with George H. Bush, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery commissions an artist to create a portrait of the president and the first lady after their tenure.
Obama’s predecessors have preferred to sit for 90-year old portrait artist, Everett Raymond Kinstler, who has painted eight US presidents, but Obama chose to go with Kehinde.
Former first lady Michelle Obama chose Baltimore-based painter Amy Sherald to paint her portrait. Both Kehinde and Amy will be the first black artists to create official presidential portraits.
Kehinde's mother supported his interest in art and enrolled him in after-school art classes when he was a child. He earned his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999 and his MFA from Yale University, School of Art in 2001.
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