National Portrait Gallery Will Not Cancel Trump, Will Unveil His Official Portrait At Reopening
Former President Donald Trump will not be canceled by the National Portrait Gallery and the museum will unveil his official portrait when it reopens in the coming months.
The painting of Trump will be added to the “America’s Presidents” gallery which is a permanent exhibit inside the Washington DC museum. History, try as the left might, cannot be canceled.
“We are a non-partisan institution and understand that there are public opinions on both sides of the fence,” National Portrait Gallery director Kim Sajet said.
“As with all recent presidential commissions, we are unable to speculate as to how visitors will receive the portraits once completed. That is the beauty of portraiture: How it is received is always different for different people.”
From The Sun: The portrait that’s set to be unveiled, however, is itself only temporary. Trump’s official portrait, which will remain in the exhibit for generations to come, is currently still in its initial phase of creation.
A museum spokesperson told the Washingtonian that presidential portraits can typically take two years to complete from the time they’re commissioned, to when they’re debuted to the public.
As the Obamas were before him, Trump and former first lady Melania will be invited to the National Portrait gallery for the unveiling ceremony, when the final artwork is ready to be displayed.
The gallery told the outlet it didn’t have an estimation for how many members of the public it expects to attend the unveiling of Trump’s portrait.
But in the event a swarm of MAGA supporters descend on DC for the occasion, the museum insists they’ll all be welcome – pending social distancing protocol…
…The museum has not yet issued a date for when it will reopen its doors to the public, or therefore when Trump’s temporary portrait will first be displayed to the public.
There is also no word yet on which artist will immortalize Trump’s likeness on canvas.
One artist who may have taken himself out of the running is former Trump supporter, Julian Raven.
Raven became somewhat of a conservative celebrity after he sued the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery because it declined to display his 16-foot-long, 8-foot-high portrait of President Trump in 2019.
Trump portrait to debut in National Portrait Gallery at reopening https://t.co/M3gbOnvjgW pic.twitter.com/foN4C4TuKu
— New York Post (@nypost) April 1, 2021
A portrait of Trump will debut in National Portrait Gallery upon its reopening https://t.co/tfPRHYIiaU pic.twitter.com/MswtQ1BrUe
— The Hill (@thehill) April 1, 2021