The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery revealed a commissioned portrait of Oprah Winfrey during a ceremony in D.C. attended by the iconic figure and her friends.
Displayed on the Portrait Gallery’s first floor near the G Street NW entrance, the nearly 7-foot-tall oil-on-canvas portrait captures Winfrey in a purple taffeta gown, smiling in her private prayer garden at her Montecito, Calif., home. The artwork will be exhibited until October 2024, after which it will be stored by the Smithsonian.
Winfrey, visibly moved, recounted hearing a “still small voice” during her childhood in rural Mississippi, which ultimately guided her to this moment just before her 70th birthday. She joined the ranks of notable figures like Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Ida B. Wells, all honored with portraits in the gallery.
Artist Shawn Michael Warren, based in Chicago, created the painting after a two-year collaboration with Winfrey. She saw the finished work for the first time during the unveiling. Having painted a mural of Winfrey in 2020, Warren was chosen by Winfrey in 2021 after a five-year selection process.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a proclamation congratulating Warren on behalf of the District.
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch emphasized Winfrey’s profound impact on American society, noting that the gallery has commissioned only 35 other portraits of living subjects for its permanent collection in the past 30 years.
This exclusive collection includes public figures such as Anthony Fauci, José Andrés, Jeff Bezos, Barack and Michelle Obama, Venus and Serena Williams, and Ava DuVernay. DuVernay and Gayle King were among the notable personalities present at the ceremony, where Winfrey expressed her desire to inspire younger generations to lead with love, hope, and forgiveness in a constantly changing world.
Quoting a poem personally written by Maya Angelou for her, Winfrey concluded the event, stating, “I want you to know that that is exactly what I intend to do: to continue to astonish a mean world with my acts of kindness.”