What the Color Purple Means to Oprah Winfrey

When artist Shawn Michael Warren painted a portrait of Oprah Winfrey on the side of an apartment building in Chicago in 2020, he had no way of knowing it would lead to the biggest commission of his career to date. But the mural—installed to commemorate Winfrey’s contributions to the West Loop neighborhood, where her talk show was based for 25 years—caught the attention of the television presenter, actress, author and philanthropist herself. Winfrey commented on the artist’s Instagram, saying the portrait not only looked like her, but felt like her, too. “That was a very gratifying moment, to hear those words from her,” says Warren.

Three years later, that Instagram comment has blossomed into both a friendship and a creative partnership. On Wednesday, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery unveiled a newly commissioned painting of Winfrey, who personally chose Warren to capture her likeness. The life-size portrait shows the talk show host standing in the prayer garden at her home in Montecito, California, wearing a resplendent purple dress and holding out an olive branch.

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The color purple “has been seminal in my life,” said Winfrey at the December 13 portrait reveal ceremony. In 1985, she starred in Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of The Color Purple—a role she described as something she “wanted more than anything else in my life,” one that “served as a foundation for my future.” Referencing the line that gives the 1982 Alice Walker novel its name, in which a character says, “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it,” Winfrey added, “The color purple, and noticing it to me, is the essence of what God represents: the complications of making the color purple and simplicity” of appreciating it.

Winfrey selected Warren for the commission because she trusted his ability to “capture her energy, spirit and personality,” says Rhea L. Combs, the gallery’s director of curatorial affairs. “This was the perfect match. [Warren] grew up in Chicago, … watching [‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’] after school, seeing her on a daily basis. Being able to have this moment to paint her felt very full-circle.”

Now on view to the public on the museum’s first floor, the portrait is far from the first time the Smithsonian Institution has honored Winfrey’s groundbreaking career. In 2018, the National Museum of African American History and Culture hosted an exhibition titled “Watching Oprah: The Oprah Winfrey Show and American Culture.” Co-curated by Combs, the show traced Winfrey’s life from her birth in Mississippi in 1954 to her college years at the historically Black Tennessee State University to her recognition with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. The exhibition examined how the multihyphenate’s upbringing in the Jim Crow South shaped Winfrey’s outlook and how she, in turn, shaped American culture as the nation’s first self-made, Black woman billionaire.

“What [the exhibition] does is allow me to actually have affirmed for me what an astounding life this is,” Winfrey told Smithsonian magazine in 2018. “You know, I thought it was in my own head, but when you see it laid out in a scholarly fashion, organized in terms of the influence and impact that my life and the life of the show has had, it’s pretty profound.”

The Portrait Gallery already has four portraits of Winfrey in its collections. Spanning the years 1988 to 2009, the two photographs, a print and a drawing speak to the gallery’s longstanding appreciation of Winfrey “as someone who has made such a tremendous impact in the world,” says Combs. But “we did not have, until now, a painting of her. And we felt that it was important to mark the arc of her career with [a commission] of this significance and import.”

Winfrey and Warren first discussed the portrait in spring 2021. They chatted about their personal lives, their past and their upbringing, and Winfrey again expressed her admiration for the Chicago mural. As Warren recalls, “She said, ‘I’ve seen so many portraits done of me, but that one really moved me in a way. It felt like I was looking at myself.’”

The pair stayed in touch over the following months, forming a deep connection that helped guide the artist’s eventual execution of the portrait. “Capturing the likeness is one thing, but [conveying] the essence of that person and putting life into the portrait [is] actually pretty difficult, and it takes a level of skill … [and] knowing that person,” Warren says.

To prepare for the portrait, Warren and photographer Darius Carter held a photo shoot at Winfrey’s Montecito home. They snapped more than 600 images of the talk show host, narrowing down the list of potential poses before agreeing on the final one. Warren asked Winfrey how she wanted to look in the portrait, how she wanted “to be presented to the generations that don’t exist yet.” When painting, he adds, “I think about legacy, longevity and creating work that is not only honest and sincere, but [also] outlives me.”

In total, Warren spent ten months on the commission. Addressing Winfrey directly at the unveiling ceremony, the artist said, “You could have chosen anyone. But you saw fit that an artist from the place you called home during your rise to prominence should be getting this honor.” He continued, “Thank you for your kindness, your trust, your playfulness, [for] welcoming us into your home and allowing us to capture your portrait and your most sacred space: your prayer garden.” As the gallery notes, the 12 interwoven oak trees in the background of the scene allude to the 12 biblical disciples, underscoring Winfrey’s status as a woman of strong faith.

Reflecting on the finished portrait, Combs says, “It conveys a sense of beauty, first and foremost, an effervescence in terms of … spirit, her generosity over the years, and just also kind of a rootedness and grounded persona.” The curator praises Winfrey’s ability to “draw connections between people of all backgrounds and experiences,” adding that Warren “has been able to effectively convey the sense of connectivity that she has brought forward in her career in front of and behind the camera.”

Winfrey’s portrait is now on view at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Meilan Solly | | READ MORE

Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history.