In President Obama’s official portrait, African blue lilies represent Kenya, his father’s birthplace; jasmine represents Hawaii, where Obama was born; chrysanthemums, the official flower of Chicago, stand in for the city where his political career began.
President Barack Obama’s official presidential likeness has a decidedly flower-friendly look.
The portrait, painted by Kehinde Wiley and unveiled this week at the National Portrait Gallery, features a seated Obama against the backdrop of flowers with personal meaning to the former president: African blue lilies for Kenya, his father’s birthplace; jasmine for Hawaii, where Obama was born; chrysanthemums, the official flower of Chicago, for the city where his political career began.
“What makes this distinctive is the personal part,” writes Holland Cotter for The New York Times. “Mr. Wiley has set Mr. Obama against — really embedded him in — a bower of what looks like ground cover. From the greenery sprout flowers that have symbolic meaning for the sitter.”
