President Biden and first lady Jill Biden hosted the couple for what marked Michelle Obama’s first visit to the White House since her husband left in 2017. The former president visited the White House in April to mark the anniversary of passage of the Affordable Care Act. “Barack and Michelle, welcome home,” Mr Biden told the Obamas on Wednesday. “Welcome home.” “It’s great to be back,” Obama said after their portraits were unveiled. “Thank you so much for your hospitality. Thanks for letting us invite some friends over to the White House. We’ll try not to tear the place up.” Mr Biden praised his former boss, telling him that “nothing could have prepared me better or more to be president of the United States than being at your side for eight years, and I mean that from the depths of my heart”. Artist Robert McCurdy painted the former president and Sharon Sprung the former first lady. “I want to thank Sharon Sprung for capturing everything I love about Michelle: her grace, her intelligence and the fact that she’s okay,” Obama said, drawing laughter and cheers from the audience. “And I want to thank Robert McCurdy for taking on a much more difficult subject and doing a fantastic job with mine.” The portrait of the former president depicts him in a black suit with a gray tie, in the artist’s signature photorealistic style. The portrait of Mrs. Obama shows her in a blue dress, sitting on a red sofa in the red room. Her portrait is also based entirely on photographs taken by Sprung. Former President Barack Obama kisses former first lady Michelle Obama during the unveiling of their official White House portraits in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2022. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / REUTERS “For me, this day is not just about what happened,” Mrs. Obama said. “It’s also about what could have happened. Because a girl like me, she should never have been up there next to Jacqueline Kennedy and Dolley Madison. She should never have lived in that house, and she certainly shouldn’t have served as the first Lady.” In a video released by the Obama Foundation ahead of the unveiling, McCurdy said the “marathon” process took him about 18 months, while Sprung said she worked on nothing but the Michelle Obama portrait for eight or nine months. Both said they had the viewer in mind as they painted. “I wanted people to walk past the painting and recognize her, or be more curious to even read more about her, but catch her,” Sprung said in a video about the process. “The way the painting is made is all about the viewer,” McCurdy said. Sprung described how painting is a journey. “I don’t know how my paintings will turn out,” Sprung said. “You just follow your feelings all the time, and I have enough confidence at this point in myself as a painter to do that.” Former White House portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama. Robert McCurdy and Sharon Sprung / Obama Foundation Presidents typically host their predecessors to unveil their official portraits, but former President Trump bucked that tradition by refusing to welcome the Obamas back to the White House during his tenure. The Obamas hosted former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura at the White House in 2012. Former presidents and first ladies usually have two official portraits completed upon leaving office. One set hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, while the other enters the collection of the White House Historical Association for display at the White House. The Obama portraits at the National Portrait Gallery were completed in 2018. Barack and Michelle, welcome back. pic.twitter.com/wcdBvfMcGg — President Biden (@POTUS) September 7, 2022
