--- description: Her portraits are currently on display in “American Sublime,” a solo exhibition that she says represents what America is, was, and could be. title: Amy Sherald Sees the Beauty in Everyday Americans image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4635850023b50b5/69b0485b2c8ca984bd14bbf7/Amy-Sherald-ROZA_WIKTORIA.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 26, 2026 # Amy Sherald Sees the Beauty in Everyday Americans by [Erin McMullen](/author/erin-mcmullen/) ## Erin McMullen Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Amy Sherald Amy SheraldRóża Wiktoria If Amy Sherald had to choose a favorite painting of her own, it would be _Ecclesia (The Meeting of Inheritance and Horizons)_ _,_ a dreamy triptych depicting three Black figures, their skin shaded in her trademark grayscale palette, standing in tall white towers against a bright blue sky. Her largest work yet, it’s an apt choice for an artist who aims to fill as much space as possible with images of Black Americans. Sherald, 52, is perhaps best known for her 2018 [portrait of Michelle Obama](https://time.com/collections/firsts/5444990/amy-sherald-firsts/ "undefined"), but the Georgia-born artist most often paints everyday people: a woman with a camera, a man in a cowboy hat, a child on a slide. “I’m drawn to expressions of humanity,” she says. “I want \[viewers\] to think about who these people are, what it’s like to interact with them, what stories they might be telling.” Thirty-eight of Sherald’s portraits are currently on display in “American Sublime,” a solo exhibition that she says represents what America is, was, and could be. Last summer, Sherald [pulled the retrospective](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/arts/design/amy-sherald-smithsonian-censorship.html "undefined") from a scheduled stop at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery after being made aware of concerns at the institution regarding _Trans Forming Liberty,_ her portrait of a Black transgender woman posed as the Statue of Liberty. At the time, Sherald said the museum suggested replacing the piece with a video of people reacting to the work and speaking about trans issues. A spokesman for the institution later said the video would have accompanied­—not replaced—the painting “as a way to contextualize the piece.” Regardless, Sherald says, “There are just some things that I’m not willing to compromise on.” “American Sublime” was quickly rehomed by the Baltimore Museum of Art, where it [currently resides](https://artbma.org/exhibition/amy-sherald-american-sublime "undefined"). Having earned her master of fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Sherald refers to the unexpected move as “a wonderful homecoming.” No matter where her work is displayed, Sherald views portraiture as “ministry,” her brushstrokes allowing her to “proselytize love and empathy and beauty to the world.” “I’m an American storyteller,” she adds. “And these are my stories too.” Amy Sherald Sees the Beauty in Everyday Americans ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/women-of-the-year/7377876/amy-sherald/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/women-of-the-year/7377876/amy-sherald/"},"headline":"Amy Sherald Sees the Beauty in Everyday Americans","datePublished":"2026-02-26T12:35:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-26T17:01:38.831Z","description":"Her portraits are currently on display in “American Sublime,” a solo exhibition that she says represents what America is, was, and could be.","url":"https://time.com/collections/women-of-the-year/7377876/amy-sherald/","keywords":["Women of the Year","list","franchise","Magazine","sponsorshipblock"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4635850023b50b5/69b0485b2c8ca984bd14bbf7/Amy-Sherald-ROZA_WIKTORIA.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Erin McMullen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/erin-mcmullen/"}],"creator":"Erin McMullen","articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4635850023b50b5/69b0485b2c8ca984bd14bbf7/Amy-Sherald-ROZA_WIKTORIA.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"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":"/tag/women-of-the-year/","name":"Women of the Year"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/women-of-the-year/7377876/amy-sherald/","name":"Amy Sherald Sees the Beauty in Everyday Americans"}}]}] ```