Kehinde Wiley / Prelude

American artist Kehinde Wiley explores the artistic conventions and canons of the Western landscape tradition. Wiley’s images – as part quotation, part intervention – raise questions about power, privilege, identity, and above all highlight the absence or marginalization of Black figures within European art. Situated in the Sunley Room, at the centre of the Gallery’s collection, this free exhibition draws out the dynamic relationship between Wiley’s transcendental works and the National Gallery’s historical landscapes and seascapes by artists such as Claude, Friedrich, Turner and Vernet.