Kehinde Wiley: A Guide to Kehinde Wiley’s Art

Kehinde Wiley is a New York City-based artist and portraitist renowned for his bright and naturalistic paintings of Black men and women, often inspired by works of the European old master painters. Wiley rose to prominence by taking photographs of young Black men on the streets of Harlem and painting them in heroic, powerful poses set against floral backgrounds to challenge preconceived notions of young Black men in contemporary culture. In 2018, Wiley painted President Barack Obama's presidential portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and was featured in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People issue.

Wiley’s work has left an indelible mark on the art form of portrait painting.

• Early life: Wiley was born in Los Angeles on February 28, 1977 to Freddie Mae Wiley and Isaiah D. Obot. By the time Wiley was 11 years old, his mother noticed his immense artistic talent. To support Wiley's artistic interests, she enrolled him in after-school art classes. At age 12, Wiley traveled to Russia to study at a Russian art conservatory, where he first fell in love with portraiture.
• Education: Wiley graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts before earning his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999. He continued his art education at Yale University School of Art, where he earned an MFA in 2001. In 2002, Wiley was named an artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem.
• Portraiture: Wiley's early portrait subjects were young men he met on the streets of Harlem and South Central L.A., but he soon embraced a more international view of his subjects. Between 2007 and 2013, Wiley traveled to places including Dakar, Jamaica, India, Israel, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Rio de Janeiro to paint urban Black and brown men in a series he called The World Stage. In 2014, Wiley unveiled his first portraiture series solely featuring female subjects, called An Economy of Grace, at the Sean Kelly Gallery in New York City.
• Prominence: In October 2017, former president Barack Obama selected Wiley to paint his official presidential portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. This appointment heralded Wiley and Amy Sherald—who Michelle Obama chose to paint her portrait—as the first Black artists to paint official portraits of a U.S. president and First Lady.

Wiley’s modern portraits draw on—and subvert—the long-held traditions of portraiture throughout art history. Stylistic and thematic characteristics of Wiley’s works include:

1. 1. History: Wiley’s work is inspired by historical sources, particularly classical European paintings of aristocrats and royalty. In his modern-style figurative paintings and sculptures, he often emulates historical Western art practices and the grandiose poses from old master paintings to depict Black men and women in fields of power.
2. 2. Florals: Wiley typically sets his portrait subjects in front of bright, flowery backgrounds to challenge preconceived notions of Black young men and women in contemporary culture.
3. 3. Social commentary: Wiley calls attention to charged social issues, such as the imbalance of racial power.

In his short career, Wiley has forged his own unique style and produced a body of exceptional works of art. These are a few of his most notable pieces:

1. 1. Portrait of Barack Obama (2018): Wiley's official portrait of former U.S. president Barack Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery is unconventional in comparison to past presidential portraits. The portrait portrays Obama in a wooden chair surrounded by vibrant green foliage and flowers. Wiley is the first Black artist to paint an official presidential portrait.
2. 2. Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps (2005): In Wiley's riff on Jacques-Louis David's 1801 masterpiece Napoleon Crossing the Alps, Wiley replaces Napoleon with a young Black male in Timberland boots and contemporary clothing. Like David's Napoleon, the man is also riding a rearing horse, but Wiley replaces the mountains and soldiers with a Baroque-style decorative design of red and gold.
3. 3. Rumors of War (2019): Wiley's Rumors of War statue depicts a young Black man riding a horse. The piece was created in response to the statue of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and serves as commentary on the prevalence of Confederate monuments across America. Wiley debuted Rumors of War in New York City's Times Square. It is now part of the permanent collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
4. 4. Femme Piquée par un Serpent (2008): This painting was inspired by Auguste Clésinger's 1847 sculpture of a woman dying from the effects of a poisonous snakebite. Wiley’s painting features a young Black man wearing a green hoodie and low-rise jeans, lying on a bed in an erotic pose and gazing seductively over his shoulder toward the viewer. With a floral backdrop, the young Black man appears feminine and gentle, a reaction to the narrative of the threatening Black male body.

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