Why Michelle Obama's portrait had to be moved at the Smithsonian
Michelle Obama has a magnetic personality — and the same goes for her official portrait.
The Smithsonian announced on social media that the former First Lady’s official likeness, which was installed last month, had to be moved to a new, larger location to handle all of the traffic.
“We’re always changing things up here,” the museum tweeted. “Due to the high volume of visitors, we’ve relocated Michelle Obama’s portrait to the third floor in our 20th-Century Americans galleries for a more spacious viewing experience.”
The installation of the ex-FLOTUS’s and former President Barack Obama’s official portraits have been a boon for attendance at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
More than 175,000 people visited the gallery last month, which marked the most monthly visitors to the museum in the last three years, CNN reports.
Photos of the portraits:
Michelle Obama’s larger-than-life portrait by Baltimore-based artist Amy Sherald shows her striking a thoughtful pose in a long dress. It has already had two high-profile endorsements.
Barack Obama thanked Sherald for “ so spectacularly capturing the grace and beauty and intelligence and charm and hotness of the woman that I love.”
Parker Curry, 2, became an internet sensation this month when she was photographed looking transfixed in front of the portrait. The toddler told her mother Jessica Curry she thought the former First Lady was a queen.
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