European Parliament Displays Gilded Trump Statue "The Orange Plague"

The European Parliament is now displaying a gilded nude statue of President Donald Trump in Strasbourg. Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt created the work, titled "The Orange Plague" (2025), and it shows a naked Trump seated on the shoulders of a scrawny man straining under his weight.

The sculpture is composed of copper and coated in 23-karat gold leaf. Trump's slumping figure presses his abdomen into the back of his carrier's head. He holds a small scale of justice in one hand and a scepter-like golf club in the other. The golf ball appears as a small globe, which the artist says represents Trump's worldwide grip and his disregard for the planet's health.

The installation lands while Trump prioritizes adding his signature yellow-gold touch to historic fixtures within the US Capitol, and the European Parliament's display reads as a pointed satire of what the source describes as his self-monumentalizing proclivities.

What does the artist say the work means?

Galschiøt ties the sculpture to a 19th-century literary source. In a project description, he said the work references Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes (1837), adding that Trump "believes the gold makes him great."

The artist framed the piece as a provocation intended to force a political conversation.

"This sculpture has been made to address 'the elephant in the room' and start a necessary debate of how the United States is destroying the world's only chance to counter the climate catastrophe," Galschiøt wrote.

In plain terms: the statue is a climate protest dressed in gold leaf.

Where has the sculpture traveled?

"The Orange Plague" has an exhibition history that predates its Strasbourg showing:

• Debuted in Belém, Brazil, at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) last November
• Has since traveled between Denmark and Germany
• Now installed temporarily at the European Parliament building in Strasbourg
• Presented with 3D-printed miniatures of the sculpture handed out as souvenirs

Danish politician and European Parliament member Per Clausen posed with the artist and the work at the Strasbourg display, photographs from the artist show.

The Strasbourg installation marks the sculpture's move from climate-conference settings into the seat of European Union lawmaking, where its message about US climate policy now faces the institution directly.