Amy Sherald’s portrait of Breonna Taylor acquired by two major galleries, one in her hometown

A year on from Breonna Taylor’s killing by police, Amy Sherald’s portrait of the 26-year-old medical worker has been acquired by The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, and the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky – the latter of which was Taylor’s hometown. This news represents an important step in the legacy of the painting. Originally created for Vanity Fair, it took on iconic status and represented a landmark moment in the Black Lives Matter movement, albeit fleeting on the cover of a monthly magazine. Now forming part of two public collections, the piece further secures its place in history and stands to have even wider impact, especially in Louisville, where the artist says she thought it could be a “Balm in Gilead”.

Sherald tells The New York Times she felt the painting of Taylor, who was shot and killed in her home by police officers on 13 March 2020, should be seen by people where she died as well as by a broader audience, hence the double acquisition. “I felt like it should live out in the world,” she says. The painting was acquired with a $1 million joint donation from the Ford Foundation and the Hearthland Foundation, a new non-profit run by Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg. Sherald plans to use the proceeds to fund a program supporting students interested in social justice in pursuing higher education.

The portrait was originally commissioned for Vanity Fair by Ta-Nehisi Coates, guest editor for the magazine’s activism edition. At the time, Sherald called the portrait a contribution to the “moment and to activism,” and said “producing this image keeps Breonna alive forever”. It followed the Baltimore-based artist’s commission to paint the official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama, unveiled in 2018, which hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. Sherald is known for documenting the contemporary African American experience through striking, colourful portraiture.

The painting will form part of an upcoming exhibition dedicated to Breonna Taylor at the Speed Museum titled Promise, Witness, Remembrance, opening 7 April, then later in the year at the Smithsonian.