A new life-size portrait of Oprah Winfrey is now on display within the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, where Smithsonian leaders celebrated Oprah’s contributions to American pop culture during a private unveiling event inside the Kogod Courtyard this morning.
“[Oprah is] a cultural icon whose life work, whose generosity, and whose commitment to freedom and fairness has helped shape this nation,” said Lonnie Bunch, the fourteenth secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. “Oprah’s impact on America and the world is wide and deep.”
At the event, Winfrey and the artist behind her oil-on-linen portrait, Shawn Michael Warren—whom she handpicked in 2021—unveiled the artwork together, revealing a nearly seven-foot-tall framed portrait of the media leader, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. In it, Oprah wears a royal purple taffeta dress while holding an olive branch and smiling among the trees outside her home in California. “The idea was to have her in an environment where she would be herself,” Warren told Oprah Daily. “I wanted the version of her that was at home, that was comfortable, and that was playful.”
A producer for the upcoming film The Color Purple, Oprah said she chose to wear purple not just because of the movie, but because “the color has been seminal in my life. … [It’s been a] foundation for me for all that it means in the story that Alice Walker wrote, but for all that it has meant in my life: the ability to surrender and to know that, when you’ve done all that you can do, you give it to God. To know that hope and forgiveness continue to live and is needed no matter what.”
In a press release, Rhea L. Combs, the museum’s director of curatorial affairs who led the commission for the painting, praised Warren for his “remarkable attention to detail and keen knowledge of color theory. As someone who grew up in Chicago watching and admiring Oprah on television, in this painting Warren has been able to deftly capture the wonderful spirit and engaging energy of Oprah Winfrey.”
