Steve Jobs, 1955–2011

This 1982 portrait by Diana Walker can be seen on the Portrait Gallery’s first floor. 

The visionary co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs was today’s version of an earlier era’s Thomas Edison: beginning with the MacIntosh computer, his innovations generated a cultural revolution in everyday life.

In 1976 he and Steve Wozniak founded Apple and began producing personal computers. After losing a power struggle in 1985, Jobs left Apple and later acquired Pixar Animation Studios, where he produced a string of films such as Toy Story. He returned to Apple in 1996 and launched an era of extraordinary inventiveness.

With spellbinding showmanship, Jobs set out to “make a dent in the universe,” and over the next several years introduced the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad—products that transformed the consumer electronics industry. His entrepreneurship stressed design, and Apple products are known for their functional elegance.

Jobs once said: “Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like, . . . Design is how it works.”