Who is Sarah Boardman? Painter attacked by Donald Trump over ‘unflattering’ portrait

President Donald Trump has launched an attack on Painter Sarah Boardman after her presidential portrait of him was displayed in Colorado’s State Capitol.

Trump blasted the painting on his Truth Social platform, claiming the portrait was ‘purposefully distorted’ and ‘truly the worst’ picture ever painted of him.

The British-born artist, who lives in Colorado Springs, painted the controversial portrait in 2019.

She has previously painted portraits of five presidents, including one of Barack Obama that Trump claims ‘looks wonderful’.

Boardman, 63, studied art in Germany in 1985 and has built a reputation for creating historical portraits of political figures.

When she painted Trump’s portrait, she said her goal was to create an image that would look like ‘just another president on the wall.’

Boardman insisted at the time that her aim was to create a ‘neutral’ representation that would stand the test of time.

‘My portrait of President Trump has been called thoughtful, non-confrontational, not angry, not happy, not tweeting. In five, 10, 15, 20 years, he will be another president on the wall who is only historical background and he needs to look neutral,’ she said.

Sarah Boardman is a British-born artist, who lives in Colorado Springs. She painted the controversial portrait of Trump in 2019

Her impressive portfolio includes five presidential portraits, a District Court Judge, and several military portraits

But she was accused by Trump of purposefully ‘distorting’ his image in a furious social media post.

‘Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol, put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,’ Trump wrote in the Truth Social post.

While Trump complimented her portrait of Obama saying he looks ‘wonderful’ in his, he accused her portrait of him as being ‘truly the worst.’

He suggested she might be losing her touch as she gets older.

‘The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst,’ he wrote. ‘She must have lost her talent as she got older.’

He demanded Colorado’s Governor Jared Polis to remove the portrait and claimed he would ‘much prefer not having a picture than having this one’.

‘In any event, I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one, but many people from Colorado have called and written to complain. In fact, they are actually angry about it!’

He also went on to say the ‘radical Left Governor’ should be ‘ashamed of himself.’

‘I am speaking on their behalf to the Radical Left Governor, Jared Polis, who is extremely weak on Crime, in particular with respect to Tren de Aragua, which practically took over Aurora (Don’t worry, we saved it!), to take it down. Jared should be ashamed of himself!’

Boardman’s artistic background began in Germany in 1985, where she trained as an apprentice to an Alt Meister.

She has previously painted portraits of five presidents, including one of Barack Obama that Trump claims ‘looks wonderful’

Trump blasted the painting on his Truth Social platform, claiming the portrait was ‘purposefully distorted’ and ‘truly the worst’ picture ever painted of him

She learned classical painting techniques from Old Master painters.

She is dedicated to capturing the ‘personality, character and soul’ of an individual through her work, according to her bio. 

Her impressive portfolio includes five presidential portraits, a District Court Judge, and several military portraits.

She famously painted Barack Obama’s portrait for Colorado’s State Capitol after winning the national art competition.

‘Sarah has always been passionate about painting portraits, being particularly intrigued by the depth and character found deeper in her subjects,’ her bio states.

‘Sarah believes that the ultimate challenge is to capture the ‘personality, character and soul’ of an individual in a two-dimensional format. She uses a combination of realism and painterly aspects designed to draw the viewer [a] into piece.’

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