--- title: Obama Portraits Bring Out Internet's Best Meme Game description: Following the highly-anticipated unveiling of the new portraits of the Obamas, the Internet set to work doing what it does best. canonical: https://time.com/5155404/obama-portrait-memes/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-13T16:02:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:50:34.996Z og:title: The New Obama Portraits Brought Out the Best Memes og:description: The presidential paintings were unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery og:url: https://time.com/5155404/obama-portrait-memes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e57b19a8109841f/69892751fb4eac964f895ac5/obama-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Barack-Obama-Portrait og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The New Obama Portraits Brought Out the Best Memes twitter:description: The presidential paintings were unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e57b19a8109841f/69892751fb4eac964f895ac5/obama-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The New Obama Portraits Definitely Brought Out the Internet's Best Meme Game > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 13, 2018 4:02 PM UTC  Former US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama stand beside their portraits after their unveiling at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, February 12, 2018\. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) Former US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama stand beside their portraits after their unveiling at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, February 12, 2018\. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 13, 2018 4:02 PM UTC Following the highly-anticipated unveiling of the [portraits](http://time.com/5143747/obama-presidential-portrait-kehinde-wiley/) of former [President Barack Obama](http://time.com/5140261/official-presidential-portraits-history/) and [First Lady Michelle Obama](http://time.com/5129005/michelle-obama-talks-barack-obama-on-ellen/) at the National Portrait Gallery on Monday, the Internet set to work doing what it does best. The portraits—which were painted by New York-based artist Kehinde Wiley and Baltimore-based artist Amy Sherald— were widely praised on Twitter, with celebrities such as director Ava DuVernay, model [Chrissy Teigen](https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/963075879164264448), and comedian Chris Rock all celebrating the images. “Monday morning joy as portraits of President and First Lady Obama are revealed by artists Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley,” [tweeted](https://twitter.com/ava/status/963079374181318656) DuVernay. “Reminds me to hope.” “Just saw the Presidential Portrait. Wow,” Rock [added](https://twitter.com/chrisrock/status/963086460286009350). “Barack Obama is the real Black Panther.” However, that didn’t stop the online world from also turning the presidential paintings—and in particular Barack’s—into a series of memes. “Nice of him to honor his predecessors, the bushes,” [wrote](https://twitter.com/aedwardslevy/status/963075077213483011) Twitter user Ariel Edwards-Levy, poking fun at the fauna backdrop behind the 44th president. > [](https://twitter.com/aedwardslevy/status/963075077213483011) See a selection of the hilarious reactions below. > [](https://twitter.com/senatorshoshana/status/963086458058887169) > [](https://twitter.com/delrayser/status/963076475661574144) > [](https://twitter.com/darth/status/963077087711002624) > [](https://twitter.com/cabot%5Fphillips/status/963080677037084679) > [](https://twitter.com/MattsIdeaShop/status/963114030003990528) > [](https://twitter.com/anthonyjeselnik/status/963117107398365184) > [](https://twitter.com/caffi07/status/963086525675208706) > [](https://twitter.com/Surly%5FMom/status/963095244056096768) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5155404/obama-portrait-memes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5155404/obama-portrait-memes/"},"headline":"The New Obama Portraits Definitely Brought Out the Internet's Best Meme Game","datePublished":"2018-02-13T16:02:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:50:34.996Z","description":"The presidential paintings were unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery","url":"https://time.com/5155404/obama-portrait-memes/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e57b19a8109841f/69892751fb4eac964f895ac5/obama-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e57b19a8109841f/69892751fb4eac964f895ac5/obama-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack-Obama-Portrait","caption":"Former U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the unveiling of their portraits at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, February 12, 2018.","creditText":"SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images","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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5155404/obama-portrait-memes/","name":"The New Obama Portraits Definitely Brought Out the Internet's Best Meme Game"}}]}] ```