Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps

About this Brooklyn Icon

The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.

Kehinde Wiley presents a defiant portrait of a young Black man on horseback, identified only by the surname Williams. It wasn’t common until recently to see subjects like Williams depicted in such a monumental way. In fact, the inspiration for this painting is a 200-year-old portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, a significant historical figure. Here, an anonymous Black youth takes Napoleon’s place and is painted with the same sense of magnificence. Although his surroundings are grand, Williams’s camouflage suit, white T-shirt, and Timberlands, as well as his Starter wristbands, forearm tattoos, and white bandana tied around his forehead, are familiar. Unlike Napoleon, Williams feels real—like someone you could, and possibly do, know.

This painting is part of Wiley’s 2005 Rumors of War series and was featured in the Brooklyn Museum’s 2015 exhibition Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic, the artist’s first museum survey show. In 2020, it was exhibited with the original portrait of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David, which emphasized Wiley’s criticisms of race and power. The Museum has a long-standing engagement with Wiley’s work, having organized his first-ever solo museum exhibition in 2004, just three years after he earned his MFA, setting the stage for decades of collaboration.