Donald Trump has made no secret of his fixation on former President Barack Obama repeatedly dragging his name back into the spotlight.
Now, the Trump administration appears to have found a quieter way to take another swipe at Obama without targeting the former president directly.
His latest target has a close connection to Obama, fueling speculation that Trump’s move carries a message aimed well beyond the person in his crosshairs.
A painting that once meant a great deal to the White House is no longer hanging in the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic.
The work belongs to Kehinde Wiley, the artist who painted Barack Obama’s official presidential portrait.
Wiley also created several paintings for the Obama Presidential Center, a project that has drawn President Donald Trump’s ire.
The painting titled “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960” depicts four Dominican models set against Wiley’s signature lush floral backdrop.
Trump’s administration removed the painting from the embassy earlier this month. And now they’re reportedly considering selling it.
The move comes amid a broader push to reshape American cultural institutions, also seen at the Kennedy Center.
Wiley’s signature work places Black and brown subjects in the heroic poses once historically reserved for white aristocrats.
Before it came down, the painting was draped in an American flag tarp, The New York Times reported.
Trump Officials Remove, Plan to Sell 'Very Woke' Painting by Artist Behind Obama Portrait | Amy Furr, Breitbart
The U.S. Department of State reportedly wants to sell a painting deemed “very woke” that was commissioned by the federal government during former President Barack… pic.twitter.com/LEsHU1hyeG
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) August 26, 2026
The takedown marks the latest step in the administration’s year-long push to alter American cultural institutions. This trend is also visible at the Kennedy Center, where tarps continue to conceal portions of the building.
The State Department originally commissioned the piece in 2013 through its Art in Embassies program using taxpayer funds.
To craft the composition, Wiley collaborated with local art students. He spent two years studying the works of seminal Dominican painters Celeste Woss y Gil and Gilberto Hernández Ortega.
Erin Scavino, who leads the State Department’s Art in Embassies program, took credit for removing the painting.
Scavino is the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino. She was appointed to the role at the start of Trump’s second term.
On former Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s podcast, she tied the removal directly to the artist’s most famous client.
The former contestant on “The Apprentice” said the embassy “worked very hard to get taken down. It was very woke.” She also called it “aesthetically terrifying.”
Scavino also emphasized that the piece was created by the same artist who painted Barack Obama’s official portrait.
On Aug. 11, U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Leah Campos posted a video of the removal set to Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”
In her caption, she wrote that the embassy was turning away from “globalist and woke ideologies” and moving toward American patriotism.
Neither official explained what, specifically, was wrong with the image.
A State Department spokesperson provided TIME with a different rationale — one that made no direct mention of the painting itself.
Instead, she stated that “the work of an individual with such violent and racist words and depictions has no place in the ‘America First’ State Department.”
The official referred to Wiley’s past comments about his “Judith” and “Holofernes” series. The works depict the biblical beheading, which Wiley described as “a play on the ‘kill whitey’ thing.”
The statement also cited recent sexual assault allegations against Wiley. It claims the artist has strongly denied them, calling them “baseless,” “defamatory,” and attention-driven.
The State Department previously gave Wiley a Medal of Arts in 2015 for his contributions to cultural diplomacy. The program previously described him as an artist whose classical portraits reframe a genre long reserved for elite white subjects. Online, the reaction was swift.
“Another example of the rampant racism that tears through this current administration,” wrote one Threads user under The Daily Beast’s post.
A second person wrote, “Because they’re terrified of a smart, effective, successful and well-liked person who is the exact opposite of their current orange menace. Oh, and, yeah, he’s Black.”
Others wanted somebody to actually define the term. “I’m begging a reporter to ask that guy to explain, in explicit detail, what makes that painting ‘woke,’” another posted. Meanwhile, another user put it plainer: “They’re afraid of a PAINTING! What a bunch of tiny babies!”
“Kehinde Wiley masterpiece being ‘trashed’ is a travesty,” another added. “I can’t wait for this to end.”
This is not the first artwork Scavino has targeted. She previously claimed credit for getting the U.S. ambassador to Romania ousted over a piece she described as “Satanic baby art”.
Additionally, she recently appointed a friend with no curatorial background to organize the U.S. pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Officials have yet to determine whether they can legally sell Wiley’s artwork.
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