‘Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves,’ Trump said of his portrait
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President Donald Trump is calling for the removal of a “distorted” portrait of him that has been hanging in the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver since 2019.
Trump posted about the painting, showing him in a suit with a red tie, on Sunday night on Truth Social.
“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol, put up by the Governor (Jared Polis), along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,” he said.
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Trump complimented the artist, Sarah A. Boardman, for her “wonderful” portrait of former president Barack Obama. However, Trump said, his own portrait was “truly the worst.” He added that Boardman “must have lost her talent as she got older.”
Trump said that he received calls and written complaints about the portrait from Colorado residents, who were “angry” about it. He called Polis “extremely weak on crime.” In particular, Trump called out Polis “with respect to Tren de Aragua” — a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members, per a White House proclamation.
He said the terrorist group “practically took over Aurora,” a city about a 30-minute drive east of Denver.
Trump called on Polis to take the portrait down and said the governor “should be ashamed of himself.”
When the painting was unveiled in 2019, there was reportedly no dissent among politicians at the event. Per the Colorado Times Recorder, “Nothing negative was mentioned about Trump in the remarks of three Republicans and one Democrat who spoke at the unveiling ceremony” as well as the artist. The speakers agreed that Trump’s portrait should be in State Capitol building “regardless of what he does as president.”
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The painting is an oil on canvas, according to its description on Boardman’s website. It is 20 by 24 inches. It was unveiled during Trump’s first presidency, when he was the 45th president of the U.S., in the Gallery of Presidents in the rotunda of the Denver State Capitol building.
Boardman has also done official portraits of former president George W. Bush, which was commissioned for a private collection along with a portrait of Obama.
In statement to the National Post on Monday, press secretary Shelby Wieman said Polis was “surprised to learn the President of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado State Capitol and its artwork.”
The statement continued: “The State Capitol was completed in 1901, and features Rose Onyx and White Yule Marble mined in Colorado, and includes portraits of former Presidents and former governors. We appreciate the President and everyone’s interest in our capitol building and are always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience.”
‘Prank’ led to portrait of Putin being displayed briefly in 2018
Portraits in the Colorado building are usually funded by private donations collected by Colorado Citizens for Culture, Time reported. For the portrait of Trump, which was intended to mark his first presidency, $10,000 was needed to commission the piece. But in 2018, the group’s president said they hadn’t received any donations.
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In July 2018, as part of a “prank,” a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin was displayed briefly — in an unofficial capacity — in front of the spot where Trump’s portrait would have been, per Time, FOX31 and 9News.
A member of a progressive advocacy group reportedly snuck into the building to place Putin’s portrait there after being let in by an aide. The “prank” was carried out to raise awareness of the influence Russia had over Trump, NBC News reported.
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Former House Speaker Crisanta Duran said in August 2018 that “disciplinary action” had been taken, per NBC News. The aide, whose security clearance was taken away, per 12News, also apologized for the incident.
Later that month, at the end of July 2018, a GoFundMe was launched. Soon after, the $10,000 goal to commission the portrait was reached.
‘Putin commissioned a beautiful portrait of Trump’: Steve Witkoff
Meanwhile, another Trump portrait has made headlines more recently.
Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff spoke to political commentator Tucker Carlson in an interview posted online on Friday. Witkoff discussed a meeting he had with Putin that “got personal.”
“President Putin had commissioned a beautiful portrait of President Trump from the leading Russian artist and actually gave it to me and asked me to take it home to President Trump, which I brought home and delivered to him,” said Witkoff.
He said it was “such a gracious moment.”
Witkoff also shared that Putin went to his local church and prayed for Trump when he found out that he had been shot in an assassination attempt in July 2024. It wasn’t because Trump could become the president, said Witkoff, but because they had a “friendship” and Putin was “praying for his friend.”
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