![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/85634714007-clean.jpg\"\/)
![\"play\"](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Trump administration reviews Smithsonian for partisan content<\/p>\n
The Trump administration ordered the Smithsonian to align exhibits with American exceptionalism.<\/p>\n
The National Portrait Gallery is among the first Smithsonian museums President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s administration is reviewing as part of an effort to eliminate \u201cwokeness\u201d in the country\u2019s cultural institutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n The White House mentioned the museum several times in its list of Smithsonian objections<\/a> it published in August. \u00a0Its items and exhibits will be reviewed<\/a> so that they “celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”<\/p>\n USA TODAY visited the museum<\/a>, along with four others, to assess the administration\u2019s concerns and get visitors\u2019 perspectives.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what to know about the National Portrait Gallery: \u00a0<\/p>\n The museum’s origins<\/p>\n Congress passed legislation to establish the National Portrait Gallery as part of the Smithsonian Institution in 1962. \u00a0<\/p>\n The law calls for it to<\/a> \u201cfunction as a free public museum for the exhibition and study of portraiture and statuary depicting men and women who have made significant contributions to the history, development, and culture of the people of the United States and of the artists who created such portraiture and statuary.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It houses a complete collection of presidential portraits \u2013 the only one in the country outside the White House, according to the museum<\/a>. It started commissioning such portraits in the 1990<\/a>s, starting with former President George H.W. Bush. \u00a0<\/p>\n The building, which it also shares with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is a national historic landmark<\/a> that dates back to 1836<\/a>, when it was built for the U.S. Patent Office. \u00a0<\/p>\n What we found visiting<\/p>\n The White House’s list condemned\u00a0a performance art series<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0took place in 2015 and 2016<\/a>, an\u00a0oil painting showing refugees crossing the U.S. border<\/a>\u00a0into Texas that\u00a0hasn\u2019t been displayed since 2023<\/a>, an\u00a0animation of Dr. Anthony Fauci<\/a>\u00a0not currently on display<\/a>\u00a0and a since-scrapped exhibit that was set to open in September and include a \u201cpainting depicting a transgender Statue of Liberty.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The White House objected to the National Museum of American History\u2019s portrayal of Benjamin Franklin, which it said “focuses almost solely on slavery,\u201d though the National Portrait Gallery\u2019s Franklin painting has no such references. It describes his \u201clifetime of achievement\u201d and says he \u201cremains highly visible today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The portrait museum has a dizzying array of galleries depicting everything from\u00a0Old Hollywood<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a017th-century Indigenous Americans<\/a>. Its\u00a0stated mission<\/a>\u00a0is to \u201ctell the story of America by portraying the people who shape the nation\u2019s history, development and culture.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Indeed, among the museum’s collection are portraits of the most iconic figures in American history \u2013 the\u00a0unfinished portrait of George Washington<\/a>\u00a0that served as the foundation for the image now seen on the $1 bill and\u00a0the \u201ccracked plate\u201d portrait of Abraham Lincoln<\/a>\u00a0that the museum describes as \u201cone of the most important and evocative photographs in American history.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture,\u201d an exhibit that opened in November 2024 and is\u00a0set to end in September<\/a>, says visitors will \u201cfind different ways that artists use sculpture to tell fuller stories about how race and racism shape the ways we understand ourselves, our communities and the United States.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n One of its sculptures,\u00a0Nari Ward\u2019s \u201cSwing,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0shows a car tire with embedded shoes hanging from a noose. Its description says the piece references the \u201cbrutal history of lynching in the United States\u201d and that the shoes represent \u201cthe countless lives lost to racial violence, in the past and in our present day.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The exhibit also says \u201cAmerican sculpture became a medium for expressing racist hierarchies\u201d and that its pieces highlight sculpture\u2019s \u201cdeep connections to notions of white supremacy and idealized white female virtue.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In the \u201cAmerica\u2019s Presidents\u201d exhibit, the museum notes that neither Trump\u2019s nor former President\u00a0Joe Biden<\/a>\u2019s commissioned portraits have been unveiled.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Currently,\u00a0a 2017 photograph by Matt McClain<\/a>\u00a0shows Trump, hands folded and wearing a red tie, looking directly at the visitor. At certain angles, the photo\u2019s dark backdrop allows viewers to see the reflection of former President\u00a0Barack Obama\u2019s portrait that depicts him surrounded by greenery<\/a>\u00a0and flowers representing Chicago and Hawaii.\u00a0<\/p>\n