accessAtlanta is your weekly podcast about things to do in and around Atlanta and beyond. This week, we’ll hear about a highly anticipated touring art show.

The Obama portraits arrive in Atlanta this weekend for a run at the High Museum of Art. The portrait tour was unexpected since originally there was no plan for the paintings to leave the Smithsonian after they were unveiled. But the gallery saw its attendance nearly double from 1.2 million visitors to 2.3 million visitors during the first year the paintings were exhibited, and museums across the country asked to host the works.

Atlanta is the fourth stop on the exhibit’s five-city tour, which began in the Obamas’ hometown of Chicago last June, before traveling to Brooklyn and Los Angeles. After Atlanta, the portraits go to Houston. On this week’s podcast, we’ll hear about the portraits and the tour from Dorothy Moss, curator of painting and sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery.

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