Former First Lady Jill Biden unveils historic announcement to add artwork by Cuban-American abstract artist Carmen Herrera to the White House Permanent Collection
4 February 2025
Carmen Herrera becomes the first Latina in American history to have their art permanently collected and displayed in the White House.
On 4 February, 2025 – Former First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden announced that Dia Feriado, a 2011 painting by the abstract minimalist artist Carmen Herrera, has been acquired by the Committee for the Preservation of the White House for permanent inclusion in the White House Collection, the official repository of The White House’s historic art collection. The decision officially makes Herrera the first Latina artist in American history to have their work permanently added to the White House Collection.
“On behalf of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, I am grateful to the Estate of Carmen Herrera for their contribution of Herrera’s piece to the White House permanent collection. Having her piece in the People’s House is an incredible recognition of the more than seven decades she spent living and working as an artist in the United States,” said Dr. Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States.
Herrera’s work was included in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s 2013 exhibit Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, which explored how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their day and recalibrated key themes in American art and culture. Herrera’s works are in the permanent collections of some of the most renowned museums in the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, El Museo del Barrio, the Tate Collection, London, UK, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (K20), Düsseldorf, Germany, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and many others.
Dia Feriado was most recently shown at SITE SANTA FE in New Mexico. SITE SANTA FE, a non-collecting contemporary arts institution in New Mexico recently held a solo exhibition of Carmen Herrera’s work. Titled, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”, and curated by Brandee Caoba, the exhibition focused on twelve works made by Herrera between the ages of 95 and 102 (2010 to 2017), including paintings and two early Estructuras (three-dimensional works), conceived in the 1960s and ‘70s and fabricated in 2019. The title I’m Nobody! Who are you? originates from an Emily Dickinson poem, noted as one of Herrera’s favorites by her close friend, artist Antonio “Tony” Bechara. This brief yet impactful poem highlights the virtue of anonymity and isolation, celebrating the value of solitary reflection. At age 105, Herrera echoed similar sentiments: “Being ignored is a form of freedom. I felt liberated from having to constantly please anyone.”
Find out more via SITE SANTA FE.
Image: Carmen Herrera, Dia Feriado, 2011, Acrylic on canvas, 121.9 x 121.9 x 3.8 cm, 48 x 48 x 1 1/2 in © Carmen Herrera, Courtesy Lisson Gallery
