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Painting Through a President's Assassination

Painting Through a President's Assassination

with Brandon Brame Fortune

It commands attention among the more sober portraits in the Presidents’ gallery, interrupting a room of men in dark suits with an explosion of green and gold. Chief curator Brandon Fortune recounts the tragic backstory behind this stand-out portrait of President John F. Kennedy by one of the few women who gained a foothold in the abstract expressionist movement— Elaine de Kooning.

gray haired woman in a blue dress wearing pearls

Brandon Brame Fortune | Photo by Mark Gulezian

colorful full-length, abstract portrait of a man in a white shirt and tie

John F. Kennedy / Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989) / Oil on canvas, 1963 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

photo of a woman from the back painting a portrait

Elaine de Kooning sketching John F. Kennedy / 1962, James Graham & Sons gallery records / Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

woman a working at an easel with a little girl beside her

Elaine de Kooning sketching John F. Kennedy / 1962, James Graham & Sons gallery records / Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Elaine de Kooning working on portrait of John F. Kennedy / Alfred Eisenstaedt / Photograph 1964 / Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life

Elaine de Kooning sculpting a likeness of John F. Kennedy in the sand / Unidentified photographer, c. 1963 / Private collection.

abstract oil portrait of a man in a suit

Portrait of President John F. Kennedy / Elaine de Kooning / 1963, Oil on canvas / Harry S. Truman Library & Museum

man and woman on either side of a portrait

Elaine and Truman presenting JFK portrait / Unidentified photographer / 1965 / Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri

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Podcast: PORTRAITS
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- Painting Through a President's Assassination
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National Portrait Gallery
8th and G Streets NW
Washington, DC 20001

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Closed Dec. 25

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Painting Through a President's Assassination

Read more about the portraits: