‘The Orange Plague’: Why a golden, naked Trump is sitting on another man

A 2.6-metre-tall statue of US president Donald Trump, naked and coated in 23-karat gold leaf, has been installed inside the European parliament in Strasbourg, France.Titled ‘The Orange Plague’, the sculpture by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt depicts Trump sitting on the shoulders of a frail, smaller man, with his thighs and sagging belly wrapped around the man’s head. Trump holds a golf club in one hand and the scales of justice in the other. The work is also known as the “King of Injustice”.The sculpture is a satirical critique of what Galschiøt sees as Trump’s threats to the environment, international cooperation and the rules-based world order. The artist has said the US president is destroying the causes and institutions he believes in, including efforts to tackle climate change. The work also questions how political power is exercised and how its consequences are borne by those with less power.What does the statue symbolise?The smaller man beneath Trump represents the burden imposed by the powerful on the less powerful.A plaque at the base of the sculpture captures the imbalance through 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.”The imagery suggests a leader who claims to help others while continuing to place the weight of his power and decisions on them.The golf club and scales of justice add to the political satire, juxtaposing Trump’s personal image with the idea of justice. Its gold finish is also a deliberate choice: Galschiøt has pointed to Trump’s fondness for gold, saying he believes the president might even like the sculpture.Why is Trump depicted naked?Galschiøt has said the sculpture draws inspiration from Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, in which a vain emperor parades through his city naked while those around him pretend he is wearing magnificent clothes.This is also not the first Trump sculpture to depict Trump naked based on a correlation with the fairy tale, a previous series of statues displayed across the US by an artist collective was also titled, ‘The Emperor Has No Balls’.By depicting Trump naked, Galschiøt seeks to ridicule the president and strip away the image of authority surrounding him. “Dictators don’t like you laughing at them,” the artist said, explaining the thinking behind the work.Galschiøt is known for provocative political art. His best-known works include the Pillar of Shame, a memorial to victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre that was controversially removed from a Hong Kong university in 2021. He has drawn a parallel between the two works, saying both concern the relationship between the powerful and the powerless.Why has the statue been installed at the European Parliament?The exhibition was sponsored by Danish politician Per Clausen, a member of the European parliament’s left-wing group, The Left. Members of the European Parliament are entitled to sponsor cultural events and exhibitions on parliamentary premises, subject to approval by officials. The sculpture’s installation therefore does not amount to an official endorsement of its message by the European Union.Clausen said he wanted to encourage debate about how power is used around the world and how Europe can protect its interests without becoming dependent on Trump. He defended the exhibition as an opportunity to display work that not everyone might agree with.Galschiøt, who had feared the application would be rejected, viewed the approval as an opportunity to bring criticism of Trump into the European Parliament. He said many Europeans regard the US president’s conduct as a serious problem, even if they recognise that he is the leader of an important ally.Where else has ‘The Orange Plague’ been displayed?The sculpture has previously been displayed at the Munich Security Conference and the COP30 United Nations climate conference in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025. It was also shown at demonstrations in Copenhagen earlier in 2026 calling for Greenland to be protected from US ambitions.The Strasbourg installation was accompanied by 3D-printed miniature versions of the sculpture, distributed to visitors as “protest tokens”. The artist has said he produced around 20,000 miniatures for distribution to visitors and European Parliament staff.The temporary exhibition in Strasbourg is expected to remain on display until Thursday. Galschiøt plans to exhibit the sculpture again at the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Turkey, next month. Trump has not publicly commented on the artwork.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.