CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The official portraits of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama are going on tour next month and the Art Institute of Chicago will be the first stop.
The portraits are distinctive.
Barack Obama is seen on a background of petunias. Michelle Obama is in muted colors in a flowing dress. And Emily Fry, the Art Institute's director of interpretation, said you'll see the two paintings from Washington's National Portrait Gallery together in Chicago.
"It's a historic moment for them to be in Chicago and we're honoring this because I mean, it was deliberate that Chicago is the first stop,” Fry told WBBM Newsradio, pointing out that the city has shaped the lives of the former first couple. “It was the city that shaped kind of the arc of both like Michelle's life as growing up in Chicago on the South Side and and for President Obama's [career}.”
The paintings will be at the Art Institute of Chicago from June 18 to Aug. 15. Admission will be free for the first week of the exhibit.