Trump demands removal of his portrait in the Colorado Capitol and claims it was "distorted"

DENVER (AP) — President Donald Trump is demanding that his portrait in the Colorado state Capitol be taken down, saying he has received complaints about the image and claiming it was “purposefully distorted."

The portrait was painted during Trump's first term and unveiled in 2019. Colorado Republicans raised more than $10,000 through a GoFundMe account to commission the oil painting by Sarah Boardman, who also produced the Capitol’s portrait of President Barack Obama.

Trump lauded Obama's portrait, saying “he looks wonderful,” then suggested that the artist “lost her talent as she got older.”

One Trump supporter at the time said that the portrait “does him great justice." 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.

“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 portrait was still up Monday morning. Boardman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press, but the artist previously told The Denver Post when the portrait was unveiled that it was important that her depictions of both Obama and Trump look “apolitical."

Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson for Polis said in a statement that the governor was “surprised to learn the President of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado State Capitol and its artwork.”

“We appreciate the President and everyone’s interest in our Capitol building and are always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience,” Wieman continued.

___

Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.