A satirical statue portraying US President Donald Trump naked and covered in gold leaf has gone on display outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Danish artist Jens Galschiøt unveiled the 8.5-foot sculpture, titled “The Orange Plague”, on Tuesday, reports ABC 15 News.
The 23-carat gold-covered figure shows Trump sitting on the back of a frail man while holding scales of justice. A golf club and ball lie beside him.
“Trump likes gold,” Galschiøt told CNN over the phone. “In a way, I think he would like this sculpture.”
The statue’s plinth carries the words, “I am sitting on the back of a man. He is sinking under my burden. I will do anything to help him. Except step down from his back.”
Galschiøt, who also refers to the work as “King of Injustice”, said the sculpture reflects his concerns about what he considers Trump’s threats to the environment.
“Trump is destroying all the things I believe in,” he said.
The artist said the statue’s naked depiction also refers to Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, the story of a vain emperor who walks through a town without clothes.
“Dictators don’t like you laughing at them,” Galschiøt said.
This is not the first time “The Orange Plague” has been displayed publicly. The sculpture was previously shown at the Munich Security Conference and at the COP30 UN climate conference in Brazil last November.
Danish politician Per Clausen, who sponsored the Strasbourg exhibition, is a member of Denmark’s socialist Red-Green Alliance and the European Parliament’s left-wing group.
Clausen said he brought the sculpture to the Parliament to encourage debate over Trump’s power and influence in Europe.
“The way Trump acts is a very, very big problem for people in Europe,” Clausen told CNN. “I want to raise the discussion in Europe about how we can make our self-defense against Trump, and how can we make politics that is not dependent on him.”
A European Parliament spokesperson told CNN that the exhibit received approval from the body’s quaestors, a cross-party group of MEPs responsible for administrative matters.
According to the spokesperson, each MEP can sponsor two cultural events or exhibitions during each parliamentary term in designated areas. The quaestors then assess whether the events comply with Parliament’s rules.
Those rules prohibit events or exhibitions deemed “offensive or of an inflammatory nature” or contrary to the EU’s values, as well as those that “undermine the dignity of Parliament.”
The approval does not represent an official endorsement of the exhibit’s message. However, Galschiøt, who said he had feared the request would be rejected, described the decision as a form of tacit approval by European lawmakers.
Galschiøt is also known for creating the “Pillar of Shame”, a memorial to victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Hong Kong university authorities removed the memorial in 2021.
The temporary exhibition will remain open through Thursday. More than 1,000 3D-printed miniature versions of the sculpture are also being distributed to passersby as “protest tokens”.
