The Whitney Museum of American Art, that capital of twentieth and twenty-first century American art, will house Amy Sherald’s first solo New York museum show, American Sublime. The exhibition ー the most comprehensive showing of her work, bringing together almost 50 paintings spanning from 2007 to the present ー explores Sherald’s career to date, showcasing her signature portrait style and her discerning depictions of American life. 

Courtesy of The Whitney Museum of American Art

You may remember Sherald as the artist behind the 2018 portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama, an official commission for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C (the iconic painting will be on display at the upcoming exhibition). Since then, Sherald has reached incredible heights of artistic renown, positioning her work around the visual documentation of African American experiences in the United States. In enlisting the history of photography and portraiture, the New York-based artist stands as one of the most preeminent contemporary forces situating Black life at the center of American art.

“American Sublime is a salve. A call to remember our shared humanity and an insistence on being seen.”

– Amy Sherald

Much like artists Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth, Sherald’s works tell stories of the American experience. Unlike the aforementioned artists, however, Sherald substitutes traditionally white subjects for a population historically underrepresented in traditional portraiture. Each visual contributes to the formation of a new narrative on the collective American story, one starring Black men, women, and children as the subject matter. 

Courtesy of The Whitney Museum of American Art

Arranged chronologically, the exhibition commences with Sherald’s early portraits before delving into the striking figure paintings for which she has grown to be recognized. Each image, vibrant in color and sharp in sketch, portrays Black people in quiet, authentic moments. Sherald recasts figures in archetypal American roles ー cowboy, farmer, beauty queen ー centering each one and inviting viewers to meet them eye to eye, a technique that permits us to empathetically step into each imagined world. 

Courtesy of The Whitney Museum of American Art

Symbols that resonate with common ideas of American identity and history are cleverly mixed in ー peep the tractor, a beach ball, a toy pony, and the American flag ー drafting universally relatable narratives rooted in cultural touchstones. 

In offering a more complete view of twenty-first century American life, Sherald succeeds in expanding notions of American identity in the process. Until fairly recently, an evident absence of Black Americans in early representations of American realism marred the creation of an American ethos thoroughly, and thoughtfully, fleshed out. An entire population was neglected, after all, and that population continues to make up a large chunk of our country today.

Courtesy of The Whitney Museum of American Art

Sherald, whose work also appears in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is the first woman (and first African American) to ever receive the grand prize in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. 

American Sublime will feature a selection of early works (never or rarely seen by the public), as well as a new work created specifically for the exhibition. Iconic portraits of First Lady Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor will also be on display. 

American Sublime is on view April 9 to August 10, 2025.