Amy Sherald gained global recognition after unveiling her portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama in 2018 for the National Portrait Gallery. While Sherald’s greatly anticipated current national exhibition, “Amy Herald: American Sublime,” would have been at the Portrait Gallery, now, but in July she announced she would pull her show, citing censorship.
However, in the midst of a federal government shutdown, Smithsonian Institute locations are closed, including the National Portrait Gallery.
Criticism began to rise earlier this year about one of Sherald’s portraits on her exhibition tour: “Trans Forming Liberty.” Attempts by the Smithsonian to make viewing that portrait more “acceptable” to the public were not working for Sherald, so she withdrew her exhibition from the Portrait Gallery.
“There were conversations about the work being censored,” said Sherald in a ‘60 Minutes’ interview. “The show is ‘American Sublime.’ It was a whole narrative, and a trans woman is a part of that narrative. For me, any type of contextualization around the work would have been unacceptable and would have deviated from how the work was conceived.”
After exchanging a few text messages with the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA), Sherald decided to bring the biggest and most anticipated exhibition of her work to the BMA. “American Sublime” opened on Nov. 2 and will be on view at the BMA until April 5, 2026.
The paintings were created by Sherald between 2007 and 2024, with 40 paintings on view, including the First Lady portrait on loan from the Portrait Gallery and “Trans Forming Liberty.”
“Baltimore has always been part of my DNA as an artist,” said Sherald, according to BMA. “Every brushstroke carries a little of its history, its energy, its people, and my time there. To bring this exhibition here is to return that love.”
A Gift from Heaven
A Columbus, Georgia, native, Sherald came to Baltimore after acquiring her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta.
She studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore under famed painter Grace Hartigan, and lived in the city for many years, honing her skills and receiving acclaim for her unique way of capturing the lives of Black people on canvas.
For BMA, there was sheer joy and a lot of questions when taking on Sherald’s show.
“This exhibition was unexpected. It came together, not in two years, but in two months,” said Asma Naeem, BMA’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis director.
The timing of this exhibition also coincides with the BMA 2025 Ball this month. Sherald had been scheduled to be an honoree. Celebrating her at the same time that “American Sublime” is on display creates a “win-win” on many levels.
“Moments after the news broke,” Naeem said, “I texted Amy and I said, if we can move mountains here at the Baltimore Museum of Art to make this exhibition happen, I will.”
An Exhibition of Major Proportions
The layout of “American Sublime” is intentional, bright, and spacious. Paintings start with Sherald’s earliest pieces, progressing to more recent paintings. As the artist’s work evolved, so did the canvases. They are huge.
Sherald’s portraits are of Black people. Visitors will see that she does not use shades of brown for skin color. She uses shades of gray that are not noticeable until that is explained to us.
“As an artist, she has decided to use grayscale to create a story that goes beyond race and skin color,” said Naeem.
The artist’s ideas come from folks she has actually met. Not all of the sitters depicted are identified by their actual names, but titles of the portraits provide a hint of what the artist might want to convey. Background colors on the canvas also set a neutral tone– shades of blues, pale pink, orange, or light green– allowing audiences to focus more on facial expressions.
“She’s… using compelling colors like a bright red,” Naeem continued, “and then incorporates some twists in what the sitter is doing.”
Captivating Portraits
Several standout portraits at the BMA are included in “American Sublime.”
The painting viewed by former first lady Obama that moved her to select Sherald for her piece is titled “Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance)” and is hung diagonally across from the first lady portrait.
There’s also a portrait of Breonna Taylor that BMA staff say was painted as a special request to Sherald from author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, a native of Baltimore. The Taylor portrait was used on the September 2020 cover of Vanity Fair.
The piece “Planes, Rockets, and the Spaces in Between,” in the BMA permanent collection, depicts what appears to be a mother holding her son’s hand while looking at a space rocket take off. Perhaps it’s a message about encouragement to dream big.
“Amy Sherald: American Sublime” will evoke feelings of hope, joy, and pride for visitors.
“Amy Sherald is one of the most important painters in the world today,” Naeem declared.
Entry to “Amy Sherald: American Sublime” is a ticketed event, but is free to BMA members. For exhibition hours, individual and group sales ticket prices, go to the Baltimore Museum of Art’s website at artbma.org.