--- description: The 'House of Cards' character is immortalized among real U.S. presidents title: President Underwood From 'House of Cards' Added to the National Portrait Gallery image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt87c7c6178d85d858/69887ea6cd1bba4bc06ff88f/keven_spacey_underwood_portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _House of Cards'_ President Underwood Added to the National Portrait Gallery by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 23, 2016 12:58 AM CUT  Actor Kevin Spacey stands beside a portrait of his House of Cards character President Frank J. Underwood on the day of its unveiling at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, Feb. 22, 2016. Actor Kevin Spacey stands beside a portrait of his House of Cards character President Frank J. Underwood on the day of its unveiling at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, Feb. 22, 2016.Kevin Lamarque—Reuters by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 23, 2016 12:58 AM CUT Another reason for all the power to go to Frank Underwood’s head: the fictional president now has [his own painting in the National Portrait Gallery](https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2016/02/22/painting-of-president-frank-underwood-unveiled-at-the-national-portrait-gallery/?tid=sm%5Ftw "undefined"), a museum that is home to many portraits of real U.S. presidents. Kevin Spacey, who plays Underwood in the Netflix series _House of Cards_, was present at the unveiling on Monday, noting, “I think that when it’s hung at the right height, you may wonder if I’m about to kick you in the face—which seems appropriate for this particular character,” the Washington _Post_ reports. Artist Jonathan Yeo undertook the painting, and pointed out the way he tried to make the paint look somewhat pixelated. “We were trying to mimic the formality of an official portrait, but at the same time leave some of the loose lateral brushstrokes to suggest a digital image flickering on a screen.” The painting will go on view for the public on Wednesday, less than 10 days before season four’s March 4 debut on Netflix. \[[_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2016/02/22/painting-of-president-frank-underwood-unveiled-at-the-national-portrait-gallery/?tid=sm%5Ftw "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4233378/house-of-cards-underwood-portrait/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4233378/house-of-cards-underwood-portrait/"},"headline":"House of Cards' President Underwood Added to the National Portrait Gallery","datePublished":"2016-02-23T00:58:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:16:58.661Z","description":"The House of Cards character is immortalized among real U.S. presidents","url":"https://time.com/4233378/house-of-cards-underwood-portrait/","keywords":["Television","Art","Fine Art"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt87c7c6178d85d858/69887ea6cd1bba4bc06ff88f/keven_spacey_underwood_portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt87c7c6178d85d858/69887ea6cd1bba4bc06ff88f/keven_spacey_underwood_portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kevin Spacey President Frank J. Underwood portrait","caption":"Kevin Spacey President Frank J. Underwood portrait","creditText":"Kevin Lamarque—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4233378/house-of-cards-underwood-portrait/","name":"House of Cards' President Underwood Added to the National Portrait Gallery"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Frank Underwood - FU2016 - House of Cards","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/thJEz6Kr/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-16T03:02:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/thJEz6Kr.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4233378/house-of-cards-underwood-portrait/","duration":"PT30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4233378/house-of-cards-underwood-portrait/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```