# Kehinde Wiley artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/kehinde-wiley/
Profile generated: 2026-05-27T13:00:17.089Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: American
- Movements: Contemporary portraiture
- Common media: Oil painting

## About Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley (born 1977, Los Angeles) is an American painter best known for large-scale portraits that place contemporary Black and Brown subjects within the visual language of European Old Master painting. A graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute (BFA, 1999) and Yale University (MFA, 2001), Wiley draws on the compositional strategies of artists such as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Titian, and Ingres to create monumental images that challenge traditional hierarchies of portraiture, power, and representation. Based in New York City, he has exhibited widely at major museums internationally and received widespread public attention for his 2017 commission to paint President Barack Obama's official portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Wiley also founded Black Rock Senegal, a multidisciplinary artist residency in Dakar.

## Common works and media

Wiley primarily works in oil on canvas, producing large-scale portrait paintings. Collectors may also encounter screen prints, etchings, and other editioned works on paper. His subjects are predominantly individual figures rendered in heroic poses against elaborate decorative backgrounds derived from historical sources. Stained glass and sculptural works have also appeared in museum exhibitions.

## Market and appraisal context

Kehinde Wiley's work appears regularly in Post-War and Contemporary Art sales at major auction houses. Large-scale oil paintings on canvas are the most sought-after format, while editioned prints, works on paper, and smaller paintings are also encountered at auction and in the secondary market. Key valuation factors include the work's scale and medium, its position within one of Wiley's recognized series, documented exhibition or publication history, provenance, and condition. Because Wiley is an actively working artist, auction results should be weighed alongside recent comparable sales and any new institutional or public commissions.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. The biographical and contextual information on this page is drawn from publicly available institutional and authority sources.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q329092
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500126014
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/3570570/
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/335890
- Kehinde Wiley: http://www.kehindewiley.com
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kehinde_Wiley