In a surprising shift from White House tradition, President Donald Trump has replaced the official portrait of Barack Obama with a dramatic painting of himself depicting the moment after he survived an assassination attempt last summer.
The newly installed painting, created by artist Marc Lipp and donated by Andrew Pollack through the Blue Gallery in Delray Beach, Florida, now hangs in the State Floor foyer—an area typically reserved for portraits of the two most recent former presidents. The image captures the tense aftermath of the July rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was wounded in the ear and defiantly raised his fist, proclaiming, “fight, fight, fight!”
That phrase became a defining slogan in Trump’s successful reelection campaign.
The White House acknowledged the change in a post on its official X account, writing, “Some new artwork at the White House” alongside a photo of the painting and a pair of eye emojis.
Obama’s portrait, which had occupied that prime position since its unveiling in 2022, has not been removed entirely. Instead, it has been relocated to the opposite wall—formerly occupied by the portrait of George W. Bush. According to officials, Bush’s portrait will now be moved near the staircase alongside that of his father, George H.W. Bush.
Marc Lipp, described by Blue Gallery as “a Modern Pop Art [artist] who translates his love for art through paintings and sculptures,” created the original canvas that now sits in one of the White House’s most visible locations. Donor Andrew Pollack, a prominent school safety advocate, lost his daughter Meadow in the 2018 Parkland school shooting.
This move adds to Trump’s pattern of breaking with protocol. Traditionally, sitting presidents host their immediate predecessors for portrait unveilings. Trump, however, did not invite the Obamas for such a ceremony. Instead, the honor was carried out by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden in 2022—continuing a bipartisan tradition upheld by Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama himself.
