Donald Trump has reportedly ordered the official White House portraits of Barack Obama, George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush to be moved out of public view, in a move critics have described as “petty” and “insecure.”
According to CNN, the portraits — which are traditionally displayed prominently for visitors — have been relocated to a far less visible location inside the presidential residence. Barack Obama’s portrait, painted by Robert McCurdy and unveiled in September 2022, was originally positioned in the White House entryway, where thousands of tourists would see it each year. It is now said to hang at the top of the Grand Staircase, an area closed to the public and accessible only to the First Family, Secret Service and select staff.
The Bush portraits have reportedly been moved to the same restricted location. George W. Bush’s painting, completed by John Howard Sanden and unveiled in 2012, and George H. W. Bush’s portrait, painted by Herbert E. Abrams in 1995, are no longer displayed in public-facing areas.
The decision has drawn sharp criticism online. One X user labelled Trump “a petty and insecure man,” while another wrote: “Just when you think he couldn’t disrespect more, he goes and tops himself again.” Others predicted the changes would be short-lived, with one comment reading: “The next president will remove every photo of you inside the White House.”
This is not the first time Trump has altered the placement of presidential portraits. During his first term, he replaced the Grand Foyer portraits of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush with those of William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, moving the displaced paintings to the Old Family Dining Room — a small, rarely used space not seen by most visitors.
McCurdy, who painted Obama’s official portrait, previously explained that the work was designed to focus entirely on the interaction between the subject and the viewer. “The subject ultimately for me was the idea of the gaze — two people looking directly at each other with nothing else to load the narrative,” he said. “The painting is not telling the story of Barack Obama. It’s telling the story of the relationship between the viewer with this particular person. And that’s a two-way street.”
The reported portrait reshuffle comes just weeks after Trump shared an AI-generated video depicting Obama being arrested and jailed, set to The Village People’s YMCA. The clip, made using real footage from a 2016 White House meeting between the two men, was posted alongside Trump’s renewed accusations of “treason” against the former president over the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for Obama, dismissed the claims as “ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.” He added: “Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.”
The White House has not publicly commented on the alleged relocation of the portraits.