The presidential portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama are in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. These iconic paintings stopped one two-year-old in her tracks as she gazed wide-eyed at the portrait of Michelle Obama, reported CNN. 

Parker and her mom, Jessica Curry, were visiting the museum when she noticed that Parker would not take her eyes off of the photos.

"Parker was in front of the portrait, and I really wanted her to turn around so I could get a picture with her, and she genuinely, honestly would not turn around,"  Curry shared with CNN. "She was uncooperative with me because she was just so focused on the portrait and studying it, and she was just so fascinated."

Ben Hines from North Carolina noticed Parker marveling at the painting and took the picture. Hines uploaded it to Facebook, and the image instantly went viral. Amy Sherald, the artist who created the portrait saw the photo and posted it in on her Instagram page. Sherald is a Baltimore artist whose work centers around themes of justice. In 2016, she won the National Portrait Gallery's Outwin Boochever Competition for her work. Sherald said the picture of 2-year-old Parker in front of her recent work showed the "power of representation." 

Feeling all the feels. ???? When I look at this picture I think back to my first field trip in elementary school to a museum. I had only seen paintings in encyclopedias up to that point in my life. There was a show up of work by painter @thebobartlett whose work still inspires me to this day. There was a painting of a black man standing in front of a house. I don't remember a lot about my childhood, but I do have a few emotional memories etched into my mind forever and seeing that painting of a man that looked like he could be my father stopped me dead in my tracks. This was my first time seeing real paintings that weren't in a book and also weren't painted in another century. I didn't realize that none of them had me in them until I saw that painting of Bo's. I knew I wanted to be an artist already, but seeing that painting made me realize that I could. What dreams may come? #representationmatters

A post shared by Amy Sherald (@asherald) on

Curry went on to say Parker believes Michelle Obama is a queen. 

"In further discussion with (Parker) yesterday and today, I realized that she believes Michelle Obama is a queen, and she wants to be a queen as well. As a female and as a girl of color, It's really important that I show her people who look like her that are doing amazing things and are making history so that she knows she can do it."

The Twitterverse couldn't agree more. People applauded and praised the photo for putting a sparkle in Parker's eyes. 

Amy Sheraldblack representation mattersfemale representationJessica CurryMichelle ObamaParker CurrySmithsonian's National Portrait Gallery