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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/28\/arts\/design\/kehinde-wiley-painting-trump-embassy.html?emc=edit_na_20260929&nl=breaking-news&segment_id=227252",
    "parsed_content": "Trump AdministrationliveJack Smith TestifiesSept. 29, 2026, 1:24 p.m. ET12m agoNational Citizenship DatabaseTrump InvestigationsGreenland DealMelania TrumpApproval RatingAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTKehinde Wiley Wants to Buy His Embassy Painting Back From TrumpAdministration officials mocked his work, then removed it from the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic, suggesting they would auction it. Wiley offered to buy it back.Listen \u00b7 5:25 min Share full articleThe Kehinde Wiley painting removed from the walls of the American Embassy in the Dominican Republic.Credit...via United States Embassy, Santo DomingoBy Zachary SmallSept. 28, 2026See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google The renowned artist Kehinde Wiley has sent a letter to President Trump asking to buy back one of his paintings after administration officials removed it from the American Embassy in the Dominican Republic, mocked it as \u201caesthetically terrifying\u201d and falsely claimed it featured a lesbian picnic.After government officials suggested they might sell the work, Mr. Wiley took steps to reclaim it.The experience left him feeling a \u201cdeep sadness,\u201d Mr. Wiley told The New York Times on Monday in his first public comments on the controversy.\u201cIf the administration is not particularly interested in the work, bring it home. Let me have it,\u201d Mr. Wiley added. \u201cIt was a really successful painting and it is a shame it was so little understood.\u201dSince returning to office, President Trump has intensified a campaign to rid some of the nation\u2019s leading cultural institutions of what he views as liberal bias and unpatriotic narratives. Officials have criticized the Smithsonian museums and attempted to control the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTStill, it is unusual for the Trump administration to single out a particular artist like Mr. Wiley, who is known for painting President Barack Obama\u2019s official portrait.\u201cI just happen to be the guy who painted Obama,\u201d Mr. Wiley said. \u201cThat is the elephant in the living room.\u201dThe controversy over the embassy painting erupted this year after Leah Campos, the ambassador to the Dominican Republic, noticed the artwork. She disliked the picture, which was one of the first things someone entering the embassy would see.She contacted Erin Scavino, the head of the State Department\u2019s Art in Embassies program. Ms. Scavino, a former \u201cApprentice\u201d contestant who is married to one of President Trump\u2019s closest aides, has used her position to politicize federally funded arts programs, according to former State Department officials. She has attempted to purge the government\u2019s art collection of other works she dislikes and has given important leadership positions in culture to personal friends who \u2014 like her \u2014 lacked professional experience in the arts.The two women came up with a plan to remove and potentially sell Mr. Wiley\u2019s painting, which is named \u201cYoung Artists After Siamesas 1960\u201d and was commissioned by the Art in Embassies program in 2013. The artist said he spent two years studying the work of Dominican painters to design the composition and then asked four local art students to pose against a floral backdrop.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe State Department initially sidestepped questions about what made the painting objectionable. A department spokeswoman instead raised questions about the artist\u2019s reputation and cited accusations of sexual assault, which Mr. Wiley has denied.Then an interview with Ms. Campos on a Dominican radio show emerged in which she described the painting as a lesbian picnic.\u201cI saw a huge painting of a picnic in a park with flowers and some lesbians,\u201d she said in Spanish.Ms. Scavino said in a podcast interview that she was responsible for the painting\u2019s removal, calling it \u201caesthetically terrifying.\u201dMr. Wiley said in his interview that he was particularly confused as to why officials claimed his work featured a lesbian picnic.\u201cI wasn\u2019t quite sure how they got there,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I have in the painting depicted are four young people coming together within a field of flowers,\u201d he added.\u201cWas it homophobic? It\u2019s possible,\u201d he said of the ambassador\u2019s comment. \u201cTo look at the painting and draw those conclusions presupposes a lot. It says a lot about panic and fear, and about creating a specific type of narrative surrounding queer people and people of color.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTIn the letter sent late last week by certified mail, Mr. Wiley explained that he had accepted the commission because he believed that embassies were places where art could create a connection between countries.\u201cIf your administration has determined that it no longer wishes to display the work, I would like to ask for the opportunity to purchase it back,\u201d he wrote in the letter to administration officials, which was seen by The Times. It was sent to President Trump, Ms. Scavino, Ambassador Campos and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.The White House declined to comment. The State Department and Ms. Scavino did not respond to requests for comment.ImageThe artist Kehinde Wiley.Credit...Ian C. Bates for The New York TimesThe debacle over Mr. Wiley\u2019s work comes as he is preparing for his first major U.S. exhibition in about two years.In 2024, following the sexual assault allegations, two museums canceled plans to show his work. But on Nov. 6, his dealer, Sean Kelly, will present nearly a dozen paintings and other artworks in his Manhattan gallery space. The portraits originate from chance encounters between the artist and ordinary New Yorkers.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe artist hopes to celebrate not only his return to New York this fall, but also the return of his embassy painting.\u201cOut of all the artists in the world and the millions of paintings that could have been chosen at this point in time, why me?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhy this moment? Why this painting?\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-28T22:27:52+00:00",
    "author_name": "Zachary Small",
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