The Secretary of State is a portrait of the Condoleezza Rice, the political scientist, the first African-American female to hold the position of Secretary of State, the concert pianist, the academic prodigy.

Secretary Rice's list of accomplishments is enough to make you give up on life right here and right now. This awkwardly cropped portrait of Rice is a political statement by Luc Tuymans. If only we could figure out what that statement is, we could have a better understanding of Tuymans’ opinion of American politics, but such is life. All he said about the work was, “when I created the portrait of Condoleezza Rice (she was still the Secretary of State at the time), people interpreted it as my critique of the Bush administration. From my viewpoint, that's what it was, but on the other hand: we're talking about a fascinating woman – the first African-American Secretary of State – a strong, intelligent persona. While some interpreted this portrait as a critique, others saw it as an iconic tribute to Rice – similar to Warhol's Marilyn Monroe.” So basically Tuymans’ portraits are never driven by a single point. This portrait especially has conflicting messages about American government just to toy with our little minds. I think the job of interpreting this painting of Condoleezza Rice would be best left up to Condoleezza Rice herself. She’d know exactly what it’s about.

Through this may or may not be a tribute to Rice, the inspiration for this work was incredibly off putting. One of Tuymans’ best friends was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Belgium and when Condoleezza Rice came to Belgium, he relayed to Tuymans his surprise at the fact that she was actually intelligent and not just a pretty face. The patriarchy strikes again. Bummer Rice isn't a black belt on top of all of her other accomplishments…