The U.S. State Department is evaluating whether it can legally sell a large-scale painting by Kehinde Wiley, removed from the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo in August 2026. The move follows criticism from Trump administration officials who labeled the artwork a symbol of globalist and woke ideologies and expressed intent to distance federal collections from the artist.
Removal of Young Artists After Siamesas 1960
The painting, Young Artists After Siamesas 1960, was commissioned in 2015 through the Art in Embassies program and paid for with taxpayer funds. To create the work, Wiley visited with art students in Santo Domingo and studied the work of Dominican painters Gilberto Hernández Ortega (1923-79) and Celeste Agustina Woss y Gil (1891-1985). The massive work, measuring over 12 feet wide and nearly 9 feet tall, featured four contemporary figures classically posed against an ornate floral pattern. It was installed in the Santo Domingo embassy in the summer of 2015.
Leah Campos, whom U.S. president Donald Trump appointed to serve as ambassador to the Dominican Republic, documented the deinstallation in an Instagram post on August 11, 2026. In the accompanying video, the painting is shown covered by a tarp featuring a U.S. flag design.
State Department Legal Review for Deaccessioning
A senior State Department official confirmed that the agency is currently consulting with legal representatives to determine if the painting can be sold. If that is feasible, it would be the goal of Art in Embassies to proudly do so.
We all serve at the pleasure of the president, and artists should not be exempt from scrutiny.
Art in Embassies Program Context
The Art in Embassies program has been part of the federal government since 1963. Wiley was awarded a Medal of Art in 2015 for his contributions to Art in Embassies and U.S. cultural diplomacy. Two years later, he achieved global fame when he was selected to paint former U.S. president Barack Obama’s official portrait for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
During Trump’s second term, the State Department’s art programme has been increasingly targeted and remade by his appointees and supporters. The current director of Art in Embassies is Erin Scavino, a former contestant on Trump’s television programme The Apprentice.
Wiley’s Presence in U.S. Museum Circuits
While the embassy commission faces political scrutiny, Wiley’s work remains embedded in museum exhibition circuits. As noted by Ad Hoc News, his pieces were featured in two major exhibitions that concluded in late August 2026:
- The exhibition was organized by the Brooklyn Museum.
- More Than a Match: Art of the Game at the Arlington Museum of Art in Texas, which ran from May 2 to August 30, 2026, where Wiley’s leather soccer ball Osei appeared alongside works examining spectatorship and play.
Whether the State Department succeeds in selling the Santo Domingo commission remains the primary unresolved question for the agency’s current art holdings.
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