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# White House Replaces Obama Portrait With Trump Raised-Fist Painting
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/white-house-replaces-obama-portrait-with-trump-raised-fist-painting/
- Published: 2025-04-11T22:29:53.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:03:30.000Z
- Description: The new artwork appears to be based on the notorious photographs of the president after his assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally.
- Author: Isa Farfan
- Tags: News, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Trump Administration, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:41 (2025)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2025/04/screen-shot-2025-04-11-at-5-06-01-pm-1.jpg)

A video posted by the White House on April 11, 2025 appears to show a painting of Trump hanging in place of Obama's portrait. (screenshot *Hyperallergic* via [X](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1910764795382349948?ref=hyperallergic.com))

A new painting of Donald Trump depicting the moments after his attempted assassination last July appears to have replaced a portrait of former President Barack Obama in a prominent spot at the White House.

A three-second video of people walking in front of the work was shared by the White House X account in a cryptic [post](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1910764795382349948?ref=hyperallergic.com) this afternoon, April 11\. Clearly visible in the video is the [notorious](https://hyperallergic.com/934417/whos-left-out-of-the-frame-in-the-viral-trump-shooting-photo/) action shot of Trump, who has blood on his face from a bullet scrape to the ear and raises his right arm in a fist as the Secret Service tackles him, all under a United States flag.

Though it is unclear who created or commissioned the artwork, the portrait appears to be a stylized and highly saturated representation of a moment captured by *New York Times* photographer Doug Mills or the *Associated Press*'s Evan Vucci at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally, based on the angle and position of the scene. The image was co-opted by Trump as campaign propaganda, and photographers have [expressed concerns](https://www.axios.com/2024/07/16/trump-shooting-photos-photographers-view?ref=hyperallergic.com) that its circulation helped advance the president's dangerous discourse about himself as a [martyr](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/22/us/politics/trump-faith-and-freedom-evangelical-martyr.html?ref=hyperallergic.com).

The *NYT* and *AP* have not yet responded to *Hyperallergic*'srequests for comment.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2025/04/gettyimages-2187362783.jpg)

The portrait of former US President Barrack Obama seen on view in the Grand Foyer at the White House on December 2, 2024 (photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

The new painting appears to have replaced Robert McCurdy's 2022 [official portrait of Obama](https://hyperallergic.com/758883/four-years-late-new-official-obama-portraits-are-unveiled/), commissioned by the White House Historical Association (WHHA), which previously hung in the same Grand Foyer spot. A Trump spokesperson said on [X](https://x.com/HFields47/status/1910779398770593801?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1910779398770593801%7Ctwgr%5E76e6f8715395c9d2e9dbaf5cd3f26172b620a41c%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedailybeast.com%2Fobama-white-house-portrait-moved-in-to-make-room-for-trump-painting%2F&ref=hyperallergic.com) that the portrait of Obama wasn't removed but instead relocated to the entrance hall of the White House state floor.

The rehang comes weeks after Trump [directed](https://hyperallergic.com/colorado-legislature-bows-to-trumps-demands-to-remove-distorted-portrait/) a barrage of insults at a Colorado artist who won a competition to paint him for a presidential gallery at the Colorado State Capitol. Within hours of the complaint, launched on Trump's social media platform Truth Social, the painting came down in a bipartisan mandate.

Last month, the Trump administration and the Kremlin [confirmed](https://apnews.com/article/putin-trump-russia-portrait-kremlin-ef9791fecc372b68f5da2a9377febdd1?ref=hyperallergic.com) that Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted a portrait to the president. It is unclear whether the portrait now hanging in the White House was a gift from Putin.

Typically, the WHHA [commissions](https://hyperallergic.com/758883/four-years-late-new-official-obama-portraits-are-unveiled/) two sets of portraits for each sitting president, unveiling the first during their presidency, which joins the National Portrait Gallery collection. The second is typically revealed after the term ends and displayed in the White House. The new White House portrait appears to deviate from the WHHA's previous portraits, which feature posed subjects.