The artist Amy Sherald has canceled a major exhibition of her work at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, citing censorship over one of her paintings depicting the Statue of Liberty modeled after a transgender artist.
Sherald, who reached national fame for her official portrait of Michelle Obama in 2018, has since become one of the most prominent living American painters for her vibrant portraits of Black life, portrayed in grisaille, or gray tones, against expanses of blue.
Her mid-career survey “American Sublime,” which was set to go on view at the National Portrait Gallery in September, has traveled around the country, debuting at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art before stopping at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, where it is currently on view. At the Whitney, the artist Arewà Basit, after whom the painting “Trans Forming Liberty” is modeled, appeared at the opening party to take pictures with Sherald in front of the monumental artwork.
In a statement, Sherald said she was informed by the National Portrait Gallery that the museum that “concerns had been raised internally” about the painting.
“These concerns led to discussions about removing the work from the exhibition,” she continued. “While no single person is to blame, it is clear that institutional fear shaped by a broader climate of political hostility toward trans lives played a role.”
A spokesperson from the Smithsonian said the museum had proposed including a video that would contextualize the painting, before Sherald ultimately decided to withdraw the show entirely. CNN reached out to a representative for Sherald’s gallery, Hauser & Wirth, for her comment on the proposed video. According to a New York Times report, which the gallery representative said was accurate, the artist said the video would replace the painting and included anti-trans views.
“The video would have opened up for debate the value of trans visibility and I was opposed to that being a part of the ‘American Sublime’ narrative,” she told the newspaper.
Sherald’s cancellation is the latest crisis at the Smithsonian Institution as the museums respond to pressure and interference from President Trump in his second term. The organization, established by an act of Congress in 1846, has grappled with new ideological directives from the Trump administration, which has systematically rolled back trans rights over the past few months as it also takes action to suppress or reverse race and gender inclusivity in schools, museums and the military.
In March, President Trump signed an executive order demanding changes to the content of the Smithsonian’s exhibitions and events, with the order stating that the institution has “promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.” In the order, Trump also gave Vice President JD Vance the power to stop government funding of “exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
The National Portrait Gallery lost its director, Kim Sajet, in June, when she resigned weeks after Trump’s declaration that he was firing her, despite the president’s apparent lack of legal authority to control the museum’s leadership moves.
Sherald’s blockbuster show was scheduled to run at the National Portrait Gallery through February 2026, bringing together her portraits of the former First Lady Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor, alongside her reimagined same-sex take on photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt’s famous VJ-Day Kiss, as part of some 50 scenes of American identity.
On “Trans Forming Liberty,” Sherald said in her statement: “This painting exists to hold space for someone whose humanity has been politicized and disregarded. I cannot in good conscience comply with a culture of censorship, especially when it targets vulnerable communities.”
“At a time when transgender people are being legislated against, silenced and endangered across our nation,” she added, “silence is not an option.”