The Double Portrait That Set Amy Sherald's Auction Record

Amy Sherald's The Bathers (2015) sold for $4.26m at Phillips in New York on December 7, 2020. The oil on canvas work had been traded once in the past.

The artist's double portrait of self-confident young women in swimming costumes confirmed Sherald's status as rising star. Within three years she was painting the official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama, which was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC to critical acclaim.

The artist typically chooses her non-celebrity sitters from people she spots in grocery stores, on buses or on the street. They have to have a certain something about them, however. Sherald has said: "It's something that only I can see in that person, in their face and their eyes, that’s so captivating about them.” She gets the stranger’s email address before sometimes waiting up to a year to begin a portrait, often choosing what they wear.

Sherald's record-breaking portrait painting, which is nearly life-sized, was first owned by Pamela and William Royall, collectors of 20th century and contemporary art in the American South who aquired it the year it was painted from the Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The painting is included in "Amy Sherald: American Sublime", the artist's mid-caree retrospective, which opened at San Francisco MOMA before traveling to the Whitney in New York. Due to travel to the National Portrait Gallery in the fall of 2025, the artist's canceled that leg of the tour after she accused the Smithsonian museum of self-censorship to avoid a possible confrontation with the Trump administration.

The sale beat the artist’s previous auction record by $3.92m, a 1,100% rise. Her previous record was set by Innocent You, Innocent Me (2016), which sold for $350,000 at Christie's on May 16, 2019. The work had been traded once in the past.

A Brief History of Amy Sherald at Auction