Amy Sherald: American Sublime

Open: Apr 9–Aug, 2025
Member Previews: Apr 3–7, 2025

Amy Sherald: American Sublime brings together some fifty paintings by one of the foremost artists of our time. In her first major museum survey, Amy Sherald (b. 1973, Columbus, Georgia; lives and works in the New York City area) presents work from 2007 to the present, from her poetic early portraits to the incisive and moving figure paintings for which she is best known. Iconic portraits of First Lady Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor—two of the most recognizable and significant paintings made by an American artist in recent years—are joined by early works, never or rarely seen by the public, and new work created specifically for this presentation. American Sublime, Sherald’s first solo exhibition at a New York museum, considers the powerful impact of her paintings on contemporary art and culture while positioning her squarely within the art historical tradition of American realism and figuration. In her intentional privileging of Black Americans as her subjects, she extends that tradition to include a population who has historically been omitted from portraiture and representation. Sherald has described her paintings of everyday people as a more expansive vision of interiority and selfhood. The resulting body of work is a profoundly resonant ode to the multiple facets of American identity, and a convincing testament, as Sherald believes, that “imagination is image in action.”

Amy Sherald: American Sublime is organized by San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This exhibition is curated by Sarah Roberts, former Andrew W. Mellon Curator and Head of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA. The presentation at the Whitney Museum of American Art is organized by Rujeko Hockley, Arnhold Associate Curator with David Lisbon, curatorial assistant.

Amy Sherald: American Sublime is sponsored by

Generous support is provided by Judy Hart Angelo, Nancy and Steve Crown, Agnes Gund, and the Kapadia Equity Fund.

Significant support is provided by Marcia Dunn and Jonathan Sobel.

Generous support is provided by the Girlfriend Fund, McCallum Family, and Jonathan M. Rozoff.

Additional support is provided by Barbara and Michael Gamson, Alice and Manu Sareen, Barbara Karp Shuster, and George Wells and Manfred Rantner.