A portrait of Donald Trump will be removed from the Colorado State Capitol building after the U.S. president said he would prefer it not to be there.
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump said the artist must have “lost her talent as she got older,” adding that the painting was “truly the worst.”
“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol, put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,” Trump wrote.
Boardman has not responded to Trump’s comments, though she did say in a The Denver Post interview in 2019 that she wants her portraits to remain “apolitical.”
The portrait in question is by British painter Sarah Boardman and was unveiled in 2019 after Republicans raised $10,000 to commission the piece.
It hangs next to a portrait, also by Boardman, of former president Barack Obama, who Trump said looked “wonderful.”
According to the Associated Press, House Democrats said the painting would be removed at the request of Republican leaders in the legislature.
Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Republican, said he requested for Trump’s portrait to be taken down and replaced by one “that depicts his contemporary likeness.”
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“If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol, then that’s up to them,” Jarrett Freedman, communications director for House Democrats, said in a statement.
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When it was first revealed, Boardman’s depiction of Trump faced some public scrutiny for its portrayal of Trump as “nonconfrontational” and “thoughtful.”
Boardman addressed the response in an interview for the Colorado Recorder in 2019 — which was republished earlier this week after Trump’s comments — she said, “there will always be dissent, so pleasing one group will always inflame another.”
“I consider a neutrally thoughtful, and nonconfrontational portrait allows everyone to reach their own conclusions in their own time, in addition to that approach being more durable over time. Personal views about a subject do not define, and are separate from, a piece of art in the Gallery of Presidents,” she continued.
Boardman’s painting of Obama remains in the Capitol rotunda alongside depictions of numerous former presidents, including Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, by various artists.
Before her portrait of Trump was installed, a prankster hung an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin in its place.
A former aide to Crisanta Duran, former house speaker and a Democrat, was reprimanded for helping orchestrate the placement of Putin’s image, the Associated Press reported.
Katie March used her security badge to allow a member of ProgressNow Colorado, a progressive advocacy organization, to enter the Capitol with the picture of Putin. A tour guide removed it.
Trump’s remarks prompted Capitol visitors to pose for photos with the painting before its removal was announced.
Aaron Howe, a tourist from Wyoming, shared his thoughts on Boardman’s work.
“Honestly, he looks a little chubby,” Howe told the AP, but “better than I could do.”
“I don’t know anything about the artist,” said Howe, who voted for Trump. “It could be taken one way or the other,” he continued.
Kaylee Williamson, an 18-year-old Trump supporter from Arkansas, also snapped a photo with the portrait.
“I think it looks like him. I guess he’s smoother than all the other ones,” she said. “I think it’s fine.”
– With files from The Associated Press.
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