Facts about Kehinde Wiley
- 10
Born in Los Angeles in 1977, Kehinde Wiley studied at the San Francisco Art Institute before earning his MFA from Yale University School of Art.
- 09
Wiley's 2012 painting of two young Black men in an intimate pose titled A Legend of the Lower frequencies directly challenged historical art world conventions excluding LGBTQ+ Black representation from fine art museums.
- 08
Kehinde Wiley's artistic practice has expanded to include a dedicated studio in Lagos, Nigeria, established to mentor emerging African artists and deepen his engagement with continental African artistic traditions.
- 07
The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired Kehinde Wiley's 2008 painting Conspiracy: Treason in 2012, making it part of the museum's permanent collection of contemporary art.
- 06
Kehinde Wiley's 2015 exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London featured life-sized portraits of contemporary Black subjects positioned in classical European artistic compositions traditionally reserved for white aristocracy.
- 05
Kehinde Wiley's floral backgrounds, meticulously researched and botanically accurate, reference specific flowers native to the sitters' ancestral countries or personal heritage regions.
- 04
Wiley's 2022 monumental bronze sculpture of Emmett Till was installed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, marking a significant expansion beyond his signature portrait paintings.
- 03
Brooklyn-based artist Kehinde Wiley opened his first international studio in Beijing, China in 2011 to expand his portrait practice globally.
- 02
Kehinde Wiley's 2003 painting Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps subverts historical iconography by depicting a young Black man in the famous military pose.
- 01
In 2016, Kehinde Wiley became the first Black male artist to paint an official U.S. presidential portrait when commissioned to paint Barack Obama.