The Museum of Fine Arts is the final stop of the seven-city tour — which has included Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta — of an iconic pair of portraits rendering former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.

Artist Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of Barack Obama and Amy Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama have gained notoriety since they were first revealed in 2018 at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The portraits’ contemporary style, which strays from the traditional staid presidential portrait aesthetic, cemented their striking positions in the art world and in U.S. presidential history. 

Wiley and Sherald were the first Black artists commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to capture the president and first lady on canvas. The two artists’ divergent interpretations of the task reflects the significance of the first Black president and first lady in office. 

“The portraits are bright and happy,” said Isabella Sullivan, a third-year psychology major at Suffolk University. “This portrayal of leaders in a less traditional setting makes more sense since it represents more than a person in power and really shows their personality.” 

The MFA’s first rebrand in 30 years accompanied the opening of the exhibition, with a new logo and welcome banners that read, “Here all belong.” Director Matthew Teitelbaum said the  rebrand intentionally compliments the ethos of the Obama portraits.

“They both have this feeling of outward facing, sense of belonging, invitation to be part of what the MFA is,” Teitelbaum told WBUR, “you know, an expression of what I really believe, which is a museum is only as strong as its relationship with its communities.”

Carl The, a first-year student at Tufts University, attended the exhibit for a painting foundation course.

“As a prospective art student, what really shocked me was seeing in person how much more saturated Barack’s portrait is than Michelle’s,” said The. “I’m trying to figure out the reason why but I haven’t gotten to an answer yet.” 

Hanging at the MFA, the portraits are vibrant, attention-grabbing and full of symbolism. Wiley’s portrait of the former president places him in a less formal setting than that of his Oval Office predecessors, leaning forward in his chair, almost inviting visitors to come in closer. He sits against a background of sprawling vegetation and flowers that represent places close to Obama and his heritage in bursts of jewel-tones that imbue a new sense of life into the presidential portrait collection. 

“The way we think about a presidential portrait is one that is imbued with dignity from the outset. It is a vocabulary that has been fixed,” Wiley told TIME. “The challenge here was to allow certain aspects of Barack Obama’s power and respectability to be a given so that we could move forward with a different type of narrative.”

The former first lady almost floats against a light blue background. Sherald, whose signature grayscale technique draws inspiration from W.E.B. DuBois’s 1900 black-and-white photographs, painted Obama from photographs she took of the first lady. Sherald told NPR that she sought to convey Obama’s authenticity, which made her feel accessible to everyone.

The Obama portraits are currently on display at the MFA until Oct. 30.

“[The Obamas] definitely are different, so they had to do something different,” said Janet Njuguna, a visitor of the exhibition. “It brings me a sense of happiness and makes me think of change. I’m also from Kenya, so the representation of my country in the portrait makes me feel very proud.”