The U.S. State Department is reportedly exploring whether it can sell a painting by Kehinde Wiley — the artist behind former President Barack Obama’s official portrait — after officials removed the work from the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic, calling it “very woke” and “aesthetically terrifying.”
The painting, titled “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960,” was commissioned by the federal government during the Obama administration at taxpayer expense, according to the New York Times. It was pulled from the embassy walls this week, and U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Leah Campos shared video of crews taking it down and replacing it with a patriotic image.
“In the Trump Administration and under my leadership we are turning away from globalist and woke ideologies and instead embracing American patriotism and the beauty of our great country!” Campos wrote in a social media post accompanying the video.
The State Department’s Director of Art in Embassies program, Erin Scavino, has described the piece as “very woke” and “aesthetically terrifying,” according to the Times. The department is now working to determine whether officials may lawfully sell the painting, the outlet reported.
State Department Cites Artist’s Past Comments
In a statement Monday about the removal, a State Department spokeswoman did not directly address the artwork itself. Instead, the statement criticized comments Wiley made in 2023 about his painting “Judith and Holofernes,” which he described as “a play on the ‘kill whitey’ thing.” The statement also cited accusations of sexual assault against Wiley, which he has denied.
“The work of an individual with such violent and racist words and depictions has no place in the America First State Department,” the spokeswoman said.
Wiley’s “Judith and Holofernes” reimagines a Renaissance-era painting of the biblical figure Judith beheading the enemy commander Holofernes. In Wiley’s version, a black woman holds a sword in one hand and the disembodied head of a white woman in the other, according to Breitbart News reporting cited in the statement.
In 2018, the Media Research Center’s NewsBusters highlighted that Wiley had previously created two paintings of black women holding white women’s severed heads, drawing comparisons to the infamous Kathy Griffin Trump-head photo. The outlet also noted that Wiley, described by New York Magazine as “possibly the wealthiest painter of his generation,” outsources much of his painting to China to cut costs.
Obama Portrait Artist
Wiley gained national prominence in 2018 when his official portrait of Obama was unveiled at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. That portrait, a vibrant and colorful depiction of the former president surrounded by greenery and flowers, was widely celebrated at the time.
The current dispute over Wiley’s embassy painting is the latest example of the Trump administration’s broader push to remove art and displays it considers out of step with “America First” values. The State Department’s Art in Embassies program, which places American art in diplomatic posts worldwide, has become a target of that effort.
The Times reported that the painting was removed from the embassy wall earlier this week, and the video shared by Campos shows workers taking it down and hanging a new, patriotic image in its place.
The State Department’s legal review will determine whether the government can sell the painting, which was purchased with federal funds. If the sale proceeds, it would mark an unusual step for a government agency, which typically does not sell off artwork from its diplomatic collection.
The painting’s future remains uncertain as the department weighs its options. Wiley has not publicly commented on the removal or the potential sale.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/25/trump-officials-remove-plan-to-sell-very-woke-painting-by-artist-behind-obama-portrait/