Last month, President Donald Trump complained about his painting at the Colorado Capitol Building. According to him, the painting does not look like him and is distorted. The portrait is quite unflattering and lifeless. Trump posted on his Truth social account how nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves. The Colorado one is distorted and may be deliberately unflattering.
Trump’s post reads, “The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst. Along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted.” Now Colorado has removed the portrait as Trump is not pleased by it.
He also said he would rather have no painting displayed than a bad one. The portrait was at the Colorado capital for over five years and has just gotten the president’s attention. Trump went as far as calling the artist old and saying she must have lost her talent due to old age.
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. The artist also did President Obama,… pic.twitter.com/NIUxU4Ybu8
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) March 24, 2025
The painting is now placed in storage after being hung in the gallery since 2019. Sarah Boardman, who made the portrait hasn’t been pleased by Trump’s statement about his work. She has responded on her website to the statement, saying she did an accurate job without any distortion.
She stated, “President Trump is entitled to comment freely, as we all are, but the additional allegations that I ‘purposefully distorted’ the portrait and that I must have lost my talent as I got older” She furthermore clarified that his statement is negatively impacting her business that she has built over 41 years. However, Boardman says she received a good response for all her paintings that’s why she has done so much commission work.
The artist who made the UGLY portrait of Donald Trump claims her business is being negatively impacted by the backlash. pic.twitter.com/oC0pvDIok8
— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) April 5, 2025
Boardman is an acclaimed artist who has painted other presidents like Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Trump’s comments on her skills have changed things for the worst for her. Boardman started her painting career after pursuing the skills in 1985. She learned old techniques to paint in Germany. After that, she won a nationwide “call for artists” that was held by Colorado’s state capital Denver.
Sarah’s other works include well-painted portraits, so one can see the difference between Trump’s portrait and how distorted it is. Yet the artist says that he looks deep in thought in the portrait.
Another reason for the president not like the portrait may be his self-obsession since he released a $5 million gold card featuring his face. We hope Trump doesn’t have any complaints about his face on the gold card. Netizens have also reacted to her mediocre work, saying if she did a poor job, why would she get hired again?
