National Portrait Gallery hangs McCain photo ‘in memoriam’

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., hung a portrait of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday in its “In Memoriam” hall.

McCain died on Saturday at the age of 81 after a battle with brain cancer.

The National Portrait Gallery said in a statement it wished to honor the “life and legacy” of the late senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee.

We recognize the life and legacy of late Senator and former presidential nominee #JohnMcCain with a photograph by the British-born photographer #StevePyke.

The portrait is on view in the museum’s In Memoriam space on the 1st floor. pic.twitter.com/aeKn0CWeTA

— Portrait Gallery (@NPG) August 27, 2018

{mosads}The photograph selected was a 2005 portrait for a profile in The New Yorker.

“That encounter, that exchange, is often brief, but the image which we make of those moments can be the way a person is remembered beyond their own lifetime, remaining long after the voice has been forgotten,” Pyke has preciously said about meeting with McCain, according to the statement.

The portrait will hang in the gallery’s first floor “In Memoriam” space until Sept. 9.

McCain, a Vietnam War veteran, died on Saturday — one day after his family announced that he would be discontinuing medical treatment for brain cancer.

McCain was diagnosed with an aggressive glioblastoma in July 2017.