US Politics
Trump wants to keep his official White House portrait from his first term out of public view: new report
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The official portrait from President Donald Trump’s first term has never been shown to the public, and he wants to keep it that way, a new report reveals.
A portrait of Trump was painted by an artist commissioned by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in 2021, shortly after he left office.
Presidential portraits are typically hung in the gallery after they have permanently left office but due to Trump’s announcement in 2022 that he was running again, the painting was not displayed in the gallery’s “America’s Presidents” exhibit.
Now, according to The New York Times, Trump “prefers a different image to represent his presidency” when he leaves office in 2029.
The 2021 portrait was painted by the late artist Ronald Sherr and reportedly depicts Trump at a rally with the White House in the background.
open image in gallery
White House officials told the Times it represents a “vestige of his first term,” and a second portrait has been discussed that encapsulates his entire time in office.
“President Trump was appreciative of the portrait created for his 45th term, and looks forward to seeing the completion of a portrait that will encapsulate both his 45th and 47th presidential terms,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the newspaper.
However, a spokeswoman for the gallery told the Times that it was “unaware” of a request for a second portrait. When reached for comment by The Independent, a spokesperson for the gallery said, “We have no comment at this time.”
Sherr’s widow, Lois Sherr, told the outlet that her late husband told her Trump had spoken “warmly” of the portrait. “What sets this portrait by Ron apart is that he captured Trump’s movement, energy and feeling of absolute resolve,” she said.
open image in gallery
If portraits or photographs are not to Trump’s liking, he has often taken to Truth Social to air his grievances.
In October 2025, he complained about a photograph of himself on the front of Time Magazine that was taken from below. “Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time,” Trump complained on Truth Social. “I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture, and deserves to be called out.”
And in March last year, the Colorado state legislature agreed to take down a painting of Trump that he had blasted on Truth Social as “distorted” and “the worst.”
“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado … was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,” Trump said. “The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst. She must have lost her talent as she got older,” he added.
