Donald Trump’s official portrait: The 17th Century painting that unlocks this mysterious image
(Image credit: The National Gallery/Trump/Vance Transition Team)
Following the release of the official portrait of the US President-elect, an expert reveals how digging through the pages of art history can help decipher its meaning.
W
Whether your politics align with those of Donald Trump or not, it’s hard to deny that a series of recent photographs of the former and future US president are as striking as any in American political history — instantly etching themselves into the cultural consciousness.
release Official presidential photo of Trump Last week, ahead of today’s inauguration, he completed a trio of stunning photos that began circulating in late August 2023 of his image. Reservation photoIt was taken after he was charged in Georgia with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election. That photo, heard around the world, was followed up, almost a year later, by A stunning picture of Trump, who was a presidential candidate at the time, covered in bloodpumping his fist in the air defiantly after being shot in the right ear by a would-be assassin.
Although those previous two photos are captivating, the most recent photo taken by Trump’s chief photographer, Daniel Turok, and released by his transition team in the run-up to Trump being re-sworn in, may be the most extraordinary of all. . There is simply no precedent in American presidential painting for the extraordinary intensity of expression and uncompromising gaze that the image perpetuates—an aggressiveness of the gaze that one would have to search the pages of art history to find a convincing counterpart.
Trump’s portrait completes a triptych of stunning images of the US President-elect (Credit: Fulton County Sheriff/Getty Images/Trump/Vance Transition Team)
Although Trump may have deliberately carved out a defiant pose in his Atlanta photo, neither the presentation of that photo nor the dramatic photo taken in the chaotic moments after the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, were under his control. It was Turok. Every aspect of the official portrait has been carefully designed, calibrated for maximum impact – from the almost metallic crepuscular light in which Trump’s face flares from below to the intense, asymmetrical squint. The photographer has succeeded in this.
Traditionally, formal presidential photographs (even the one Trump took eight years ago, when he first assumed the high office) were designed to communicate openness and friendliness. They are quiet, smiling and always forgettable. “Better days are on the way,” they seem to say. Not this. A portentous image is a steely statement of an impending target. Although journalists sought to distill the essence of the image into everyday language, experimenting with words like “scowling” and “stern,” Trump’s expressions resisted easy captions. It’s strange.
To capture the strange, penetrating pulse of the president-elect’s mood, we really need a new word — one imbued with the unwavering intent of victory. “Trumpant” will do the trick. The closest echo in art history to such a deeply scowling, closed-eyed, swaggering glare is an out-of-the-way image from the paintbrush of the 17th-century Italian Baroque artist Salvatore Rosa, whose intense rendering of Ama Scientific Philosophy (a remarkable painting in the National Gallery In London) it is similarly blatant. Gazing at both images, the drawing and the photograph, seems calculated to ward off the slightest whisper of dissent. Rosa’s character is depicted holding a creepy sign that reads, “Keep silent unless your words are better than silence.”
Image source: The National Gallery, London Image caption The portrait of “Philosophy”, painted by the 17th century Italian Baroque artist Salvatore Rosa, can be compared to Trump’s official portrait
Although its aura is superficially warmer, Turok’s photo of Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, posted with Trump’s photo, has an unexpected poignancy in its own right. It also sparks an interesting conversation with images from art history. Unlike Trump, Vance is technically smiling. But his smile is closer to a cautious, closed smile than a wide-open beam. The perpetual air of secluded reserve is amplified by Vance’s emphatically folded arms. He’s happy enough to see you, but he’s not ready to share.
Kelly Grover
Kelly Grovier is a poet, art historian and author, whose latest book explores Banksy’s reinvention of art history and the surprising origins of the pigments used to create the world’s masterpieces.
A lot can be done from Vance’s body language. After all, he is not the first president or vice president-elect to cross his arms while posing for an official photo. They both took similar positions Joe Biden and Barack Obama For their official portraits since Aaron Schickler’s famous 1971 painting of A Contemplative President John F. Kennedydepicted with arms folded and deep in thought, arms crossed being the default position for any reflective executive.
The image by J.D. Vance can be compared to the painting “Man with Crossed Arms” painted by Paul Cézanne in 1899. (Image source: Getty Images/Trump/Vance Transition Team)
But in Vance’s photo, it’s not just his limbs that feel folded. Everything about him seems closed and inaccessible. Even his lips seem to cross their arms. His focus seems fixed elsewhere, outside the frame, recalling the enigmatic portrait painted by the pioneering French artist Paul Cézanne. Man with crossed arms, 1899. As with Cézanne’s sitter, Vance’s mind, like his body, is coiled, tightly bound, and insoluble. Announcing the release of the official photos to media in an email, Trump’s transition team insisted the photos were “going strong” and punctuated the confirmation with a fire emoji. It remains to be seen to what extent the images provide a glimpse into the imminent image of America that its new leaders intend to paint.
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