Trump Demands ‘Strange Modernist’ Sculpture Be Replaced by George Washington Statue
In late Friday Truth Social posts, President Donald Trump demanded that the Smithsonian Institution install a monumental 11-foot statue of George Washington outside the National Museum of American History on September 17 (Constitution Day) and open an exhibition honoring Washington that would run through February 22, 2032, the 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth. Trump also called for a 30-foot Washington statue to replace Infinity, a kinetic stainless-steel sculpture by New York artist José de Rivera that was dedicated by the federal government in 1967 at the museum’s south entrance and rotates continuously, completing one revolution every six minutes. He criticized the Smithsonian for not adequately celebrating Washington and claimed the museum does not mention Washington’s crossing of the Delaware on December 25, 1776, though the museum holds multiple related prints and objects, including a 2021 US quarter. ARTnews noted it is unclear whether Trump has authority to remove Infinity because the Smithsonian operates independently, though it receives significant federal funding and is overseen by a Board of Regents that includes Vice President JD Vance.
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This story was covered in Modernist Targets and Muslim Labels