Kehinde Wiley: Saint Louis Kehinde Wiley

The Saint Louis Art Museum is proud to present Kehinde Wiley: Saint Louis, an exhibition that is deeply connected to this city and informed by visits Wiley made in 2017. Through a process of street casting, he invited strangers he met in neighborhoods in north St. Louis and Ferguson to pose for his paintings. Wiley then created eleven original portraits that are inspired by carefully chosen artworks in the Museum’s collection.

In 2018 Wiley became the first African-American artist to paint an official U.S. Presidential portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Former U.S. President Barack Obama selected Wiley for this honor. Wiley has held solo exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, the Jewish Museum in New York, the Columbus Museum of Art, and the Studio Museum in Harlem. His works are included in the collections of numerous public institutions.