Museums: National Portrait Gallery #2

Recently, we made a return visit to the National Portrait Gallery, with a friend visiting from Florence.

We enjoyed a wonderful, leisurely lunch at nearby Zaytinya and viewed the new Barack Obama portrait in the gallery.

Below is a photo of the new portrait, along with a description.

While viewing the portrait, we discovered something interesting about.  No matter where you stood, the eyes were looking right at you.  Below are photos taken while standing to the far left and far right of the portrait.  Despite the change in position, the eyes were looking straight us.  Very cool.    

From the far left.

From the far right..

While visiting the gallery, we also spotted two other interesting portraits.

One work might be familiar.  Below is a video self-portrait of artist Bill Viola.  You might remember him from a Year 2 blog post when the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence hosted an exhibition of his work.  

To see a video of the artwork, click below.    

(You can see the earlier post here).

Another image that caught our attention was the portrait below.  If Norman Rockwell could help Richard Nixon seem warm and friendly, then he must have been a very talented artist.  

Thanks for again visiting the National Portrait Gallery with us.