March 26, 2025:
DENVER (AP) —Filling an empty space on the wall of presidential portraits in the Colorado Capitol with a new painting of Donald Trump could take time after one he disliked was taken down. Legislative leaders will meet at some point to decide how to replace the painting derided by Trump on Sunday night. By Tuesday morning, it was in storage. It’s not clear when lawmakers will have a chance to make decisions on a new painting. The Legislature is focused on the state budget. A spokesperson for Republicans in the Colorado Senate said Tuesday (March 25, 2025) that no one knows yet whether Trump will get a chance to approve a new portrait.
March 25, 2025, update:
DENVER (AP) — A portrait of Donald Trump that he said was “purposefully distorted” was removed from a wall at the Colorado state Capitol where it had been since 2019.
After Trump posted complaints about the painting on his Truth Social platform, Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Republican, asked that it be taken down and replaced with one that “depicts his contemporary likeness.” Colorado Republicans had raised more than $10,000 to commission the oil painting.
By Tuesday morning (March 25, 2025), the portrait was no longer hanging next to those of other U.S. presidents.
Democrats in the Legislature did not object to the painting’s removal.
“If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol, then that’s up to them,” they said in a statement.
Republicans have not said how they will pay for a new portrait or who might paint it.
In his post on social media on Sunday, Trump had said he would prefer no picture at all over the one at the Colorado Capitol. He praised the portrait of former President Barack Obama, which was painted by the same artist.
“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.
The presidential portraits are not the purview of the Colorado governor’s office but the Colorado Building Advisory Committee.
The ones up to and including President Jimmy Carter were donated as a collection. The others were donated by political parties or paid for by outside fundraising.
It wasn’t the first time the portrait of Trump has drawn attention. Before its installation, a prankster placed a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin near the spot intended for Trump.
Some people initially objected to artist Sarah Boardman’s depiction of Trump as “nonconfrontational” and “thoughtful” when they considered him just the opposite, according to an interview with Colorado Times Recorder from the time. She told the news outlet that she wanted to create a likeness that was apolitical and would stand the test of time.
Boardman did not return phone and email messages Monday and Tuesday seeking comment.
March 25, 2025:
DENVER (AP) — A painting of Donald Trump hanging with other presidential portraits at the Colorado state Capitol will be taken down after Trump claimed that his was “purposefully distorted,” according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.
House Democrats said in a statement that the oil painting would be taken down at the request of Republican leaders in the Legislature. Colorado Republicans raised more than $10,000 through a GoFundMe account to commission the oil painting, which was unveiled in 2019.
Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Republican, said that he requested for Trump’s portrait to be taken down and replaced by one “that depicts his contemporary likeness.”
“If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol, then that’s up to them,” the Democrats said.
The portrait was installed alongside other paintings of U.S. presidents. Before the installation, a prankster placed a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin near the spot intended for Trump.
Initially, people objected to artist Sarah Boardman’s depiction of Trump as “nonconfrontational” and “thoughtful” in the portrait, according to an interview with Colorado Times Recorder from the time.
But in a Sunday night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he would prefer no picture at all over the one that hangs in the Colorado Capitol. The Republican lauded a nearby portrait of former President Barack Obama – also by Boardman – saying “he looks wonderful.”
“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.
The portraits are not the purview of the Colorado governor’s office but the Colorado Building Advisory Committee. The ones up to and including President Jimmy Carter were donated as a collection. The others were donated by political parties or, more recently, paid for by outside fundraising.
The Legislature’s executive committee, made up of both Democratic and Republican leadership, signed a letter directing the removal of Trump’s portrait. Lundeen, the Republican senator who requested it, noted that Grover Cleveland, whose presidential terms were separated like Trump’s, had a portrait from his second term.
Boardman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. In interviews from the time with The Denver Post, Boardman said it was important that her depictions of both Obama and Trump looked apolitical.
“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,” Boardman told the Colorado Times Recorder in 2019.
Trump’s Sunday night comments had prompted a steady stream of visitors to pose for photos with the painting before the announcement that it would be taken down.
Aaron Howe, visiting from Wyoming on Monday, stood in front of Trump’s portrait, looking down at photos of the president on his phone, then back up at the portrait.
“Honestly he looks a little chubby,” said Howe of the portrait, 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.”
Kaylee Williamson, an 18-year-old Trump supporter from Arkansas, got 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.”
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