Quote by Kehinde Wiley: “I want to paint black people in the context of luxury and leisure.”

This quote reveals his intention to disrupt traditional art historical narratives by depicting Black individuals in empowering and aspirational settings. It's a deliberate act of subverting stereotypes and celebrating Black joy and affluence.

Explaining his artistic project of placing contemporary Black subjects into classical European portraiture, giving them agency and a sense of regality, challenging historical omissions in Western art.

American visual artist known for his large-scale, hyper-realistic portraits of Black subjects in the style of Old Master paintings. He was commissioned to paint the official portrait of President Barack Obama in 2017, making him the first Black artist to do so for a sitting president.