A 2.6-metre naked statue of US President Donald Trump, covered in 23-carat gold leaf, has been installed this week in a busy passage inside the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Entitled The Orange Plague, the work by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt depicts the American president sitting naked on the shoulders of a smaller, exhausted human figure.
Trump is shown holding a golf club and a set of scales representing justice, while his body bears down on the person beneath him.
An inscription at the base of the sculpture reads: “I sit on a man’s back. He sinks under my weight. I will do anything to help him. Except get off his back.”
Galschiøt said his decision to cover the sculpture in gold was deliberate.
“Trump likes gold,” he said following the unveiling on Tuesday. “In a way, I think he would like this sculpture.”
The artist said the work seeks to represent what he regards as threats posed by Trump to the environment and to the international system of rules and institutions.
“Trump is destroying everything I believe in,” Galschiøt told CNN.
Why Trump is depicted naked
The naked representation draws inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, in which a vain emperor parades without clothes while those around him pretend not to acknowledge the obvious.
“Dictators don’t like to be ridiculed,” Galschiøt said, explaining his choice of imagery.
The Danish artist is known for politically charged works.
Among them is the Pillar of Shame, a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre, which was removed from a Hong Kong university in 2021.
In 2024, Galschiøt displayed a copy of the same work outside the European Parliament in Brussels as part of an exhibition dedicated to artworks that had been censored or banned.
According to the artist, the works are connected by a common theme: the conflict between those who wield power and those subjected to it.
display a NAKED TRUMP STATUE at the EU parliament. Meanwhile, it is ILLEGAL to “damage the reputation of a politician” in Germany. Imagine the uproar if Trump put a naked Angela Merkel statue in the White House! https://t.co/M5KM0TuFLd
— Orange Man Vlad (@orangmanviad) October 8, 2026
How the statue ended up inside the European Parliament
The exhibition itself was not organised by the European Parliament.
It was initiated by Danish MEP Per Clausen, from the left-wing Enhedslisten party and a member of The Left group in the European Parliament.
MEPs are permitted to host cultural events and exhibitions in designated areas of the Parliament, provided the necessary approval has been obtained.
The relevant rules prohibit exhibitions considered offensive, inflammatory, contrary to the values of the European Union or damaging to the reputation of Parliament.
Approval of the exhibition, however, does not mean that the European Parliament endorses the message of the artwork.
A Parliament spokesperson said permission was granted by the quaestors, the group of MEPs responsible for administrative matters who assess whether exhibitions comply with the institution’s rules.
Golden statue of naked Trump called 'Orange Plague' appears at European Parliament https://t.co/NIAQFMpHQu
— The Independent (@Independent) October 7, 2026
‘A discussion about how Europe can protect itself’
Clausen said his aim is to encourage debate about the exercise of power internationally and how Europe can reduce its dependence on decisions made in Washington.
“The way Trump acts is a very big problem for people in Europe,” he said.
He said he wanted to encourage discussion about how Europe can politically protect itself from decisions taken by the US president and pursue a more independent path.
According to Clausen, reactions to the sculpture have been largely positive, apart from criticism from some representatives of the far right.
“It is very important that we have the opportunity in Parliament to present things that not everyone agrees with,” he said.
1,000 miniature replicas handed out
The sculpture will remain in Strasbourg until Thursday.
More than 1,000 small 3D-printed replicas have also been placed alongside it and are being handed out to passers-by as “symbols of protest”.
The Orange Plague has previously appeared at international events including the Munich Security Conference and COP30 in Brazil.
Galschiøt is also planning to display the sculpture at COP31, which is due to take place next month in Antalya, Turkey.
Trump has not commented on the sculpture so far.
Source: LiFO / CNN
