Trump laments a painting from him

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, received a new portrait of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, while denouncing an existing painting of him as “truly the worst.”

The new portrait has not been publicly shown. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described him as a “personal gift”, added that only Putin himself had the right to reveal more details.

Meanwhile, Trump took his real social network to criticize an earlier image of him that hangs in the Capitol building in Colorado.

The president of the United States has paid a lot of attention to the cultivation of his image, and was news in January when presenting an official portrait that was described in various ways for critics as serious or sinister.

Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed the reception of Moscow’s new work, saying that they had been asked to transport him back to Washington.

He described the work as a painting, a “beautiful portrait” of a “leading Russian artist”, but gave no more criticism. Trump was “clearly moved by that,” he added.

The gift was confirmed by Peskov, since American and Russian negotiators again sat down in Saudi Arabia as part of Trump’s impulse to end the war in Ukraine.

The gift highlights the diplomatic thaw between the two nations after Trump returned to the White House in January.

In an interview, Witkoff, who met Putin 10 days ago, said the Russian president had been “friendly.” Putin told him, he added, that he had prayed for Trump after an attempt to murder against him last year.

That attempt in Trump’s life, which took place during a manifestation in Pennsylvania, gave rise to the most emblematic image of him ever produced.

The AP photographer, Evan Vucci, caught the moment when Trump, with a bloody ear, raised a challenging fist and told the supporters to “fight, fight, fight.” That image was mythologized by Trump, who used it to decorate the cover of a book.

Trump has not yet publicly commented on the image that Putin sent, but left no doubt about the type of portrait he liked and did not like to deliver his views about the colorful image.

The painting, which was presented to the building in 2019, was “distorted on purpose to a level that even me, perhaps, had never seen before,” he wrote in Truth Social on Monday morning.

That was different from the same representation of Barack Obama, Trump wrote. Offering rare praise for his predecessor, Trump said Obama looked “wonderful” in his own portrait for the same artist, Sarah Boardman, born in English.

According to reports, Trump lost up to 30 pounds (13.6 kg) during last year’s presidential campaign. He told the journalists that he had been “so busy” that he had not “could eat much.”

The Republican also used the portrait to make a political point: painting the governor of Colorado Jared Polis, a Democrat, as “radical” and “extremely weak in crime.”

But the portrait had nothing to do with Polis, American media pointed out. Instead, it was the result of a crowdfunding campaign that was launched by a Republican. According to the reports, the portrait was in charge of filling an empty space that had been briefly filled with an image of Vladimir Putin by a joker.

The BBC has contacted Mrs. Boardman to comment. Discussing his work with the recorder of Colorado Times in 2019, he acknowledged that “it would always be the anger of a president on one side or another. It is human nature.”

Another portrait artist told the BBC that “he would have painted things slightly different,” but that the presidential portraits were nuanced and that sympathy with the artist.

Robert Anderson, who created the official portrait of President George W Bush, which hangs at the National Gallery of Portraits in the United States, said the spectators tended to bring “luggage” depending on their feelings on the issue of painting.

For that reason, the reaction to a work of art often had “very little to do with the quality of art,” he said.

Trump, Anderson said: “I think it would be very difficult to paint it because it has a particular impression of itself that could be very different from that of many others, probably at least half of the country.”

A Polis spokesman told 9News that he said that the governor was “surprised to know that the president of the United States is fond of our Capitol of the State of Colorado and his work of art.”

The statement continued: “We appreciate the president and interest of all in our Capitol building and we always look for any opportunity to improve our visitors’ experience.”