The six-by-five-foot (1.8 by 1.5 m) oil-on-linen painting shows Obama, rendered in Sherald's signature grisaille, resting her chin lightly on her hand, as a geometric print dress flows outward filling the frame against a sky-blue background.

[3] The citation praised her "innovative, dynamic portraits that, through color and form, confront the psychological effects of stereotypical imagery on African-American subjects".

[9] Smith pulled the dress from production so it would be unique to Obama[10] and worked with the team remotely to tailor the design for her,[9] but the final wardrobe selection was not revealed until the painting's unveiling ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery.

[15] Obama's face, as well as her visible arms and hands, are stylized in shades of gray, an artistic technique known as grisaille,[16] a key theme in works by Sherald.

He described the juxtaposition of Obama's face, painted "in the gray tones of an old black-and-white photograph," with the vibrant "robin's egg blue background" as a technique Sherald often uses to impart "a heightened sense of the surreal.

[20] By contrast Sherald said the dress reminded her of the works of 20th century Dutch painter Piet Mondrian and the African-American quilting tradition of Gee's Bend, Alabama, a community descended from formerly enslaved African Americans.

[21][16] Sherald felt it echoed the Gee's Bend tradition of "composing quilts in geometries that transform clothes and fabric remnants into masterpieces.

"[22] Writing in The New Yorker, art critic Peter Schjeldahl remarked on his first impression, viewing the piece in reproduction, of the "immense cotton gown [...] which fills most of the canvas that isn't taken up by a light-blue ground."

Taking in the painting's scale [...] and the sensitive suavity of its brushwork (a tissue of touches, each a particular decision)," Schjeldahl came to a widely shared critical conclusion[16] that Sherald had captured the essential qualities and challenges of Michelle Obama's role and identity: "I decided that artist and sitter had achieved a mind meld, to buoyant effect.

"[2] Cultural critic Doreen St. Félix agreed that the portrait departed from photorealism – "The mouth and the eyes and the strong arms that we know are present, but fainter.

– but felt this choice was integral to the image's success as a portrait of this sitter, by compelling the viewer to "work to bring its subject to life – to remember what Michelle Obama has endured.

"[16] Art critics generally praised the work: in New York, Jerry Saltz wrote a review declaring, "The Obamas' Official Portraits Rise to the Occasion.

[27][28] As of February 2020, attendance at the National Portrait Gallery had doubled since the unveiling,[26] bringing four million visitors to the museum and turning the queue to see the paintings into its own social experience.