The National Portrait Gallery has unveiled portraits of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama — and they were humiliating.
The portraits were unveiled to the public Monday at the gallery, which is part of the Smithsonian group of museums. Social media erupted in response, pointing out the poor quality of the work and the strange presentation.
And Obama was front and center during the disaster.
The gallery has a complete collection of presidential portraits. A second and different set of portraits of the former first couple will eventually hang in the White House.
Always a politician, Obama praised Baltimore-based artist Amy Sherald “for so spectacularly capturing the grace and beauty and intelligence and charm and hotness of the woman I love.” Critics weren’t so diplomatic, however.
Many Twitter users even shared a laugh over Barack sitting in the bushes. Other accounts on social media were in an all-out-war over these portraits — confused as to whether they actually represented the subjects well enough.
Take a look at these five embarrassing tweets —
These CANNOT be the official Obama White House portraits. They just can't. NOTHING is this awful on purpose. pic.twitter.com/RtgScx2WM1
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) February 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/DeplorableJWS/status/963083534721273856
https://twitter.com/W_C_Patriot/status/963110965427367937
https://twitter.com/Pink_About_it/status/963104159007432704
Obama is depicted on a chair in the bushes doing his favorite thing: spying on Americans. #ObamaPortraits pic.twitter.com/22WMVeWGcI
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) February 12, 2018
Barack’s portrait was painted by Kehinde Wiley — an artist best known for his vibrant, large-scale paintings of African-Americans. “It features a seven-foot portrait sitting in a field of flowers, including chrysanthemums, the official flower of Chicago; jasmine, a nod to Obama’s childhood in Hawaii; and African blue lilies to symbolize Obama’s late father who was from Kenya,” reports Fox News.
The portraits will be officially installed and available for public viewing starting on Feb. 13.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.