Naked Gold Trump Statue Appears in Strasbourg With Over 1,000 Mini Replicas Offered as 'Protest Tokens'

More than 1,000 miniature replicas of a naked, gold-covered Donald Trump sculpture are being offered as 'protest tokens' to passersby inside the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Danish artist Jens Galschiøt unveiled the full-size work on 6 October 2026, with the temporary exhibition scheduled to remain until 8 October.

The 8.5ft, approximately 2.6m, copper sculpture is coated in 23-carat gold leaf and depicts the US president sitting on the shoulders of a smaller, frail man while holding a golf club and the scales of justice. 'Trump likes gold,' Galschiøt said. 'In a way, I think he would like this sculpture.'

Miniatures Carry the Artist's Protest Message

The 3D-printed tokens reproduce the sculpture, which Galschiøt calls 'The Orange Plague', also known as 'King of Injustice'. Offering smaller versions allows visitors to take away a representation of the work and its political message.

The full-size sculpture's plinth carries a text written in the imagined voice of the figure: '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.'

Galschiøt told CNN that the piece reflects his criticism of Trump's climate policies and what he sees as threats to the environment and the rules-based world order.

'Trump is destroying all the things I believe in,' the artist said.

The unclothed figure deliberately references Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Emperor's New Clothes', the story of a vain ruler persuaded that he is wearing magnificent clothes when he is wearing nothing.

Galschiøt presents the sculpture as political satire. Its depiction of the president is an expression of the artist's views, rather than an official statement from the European Parliament.

Parliament Approved the MEP-Sponsored Exhibition

Danish MEP Per Clausen, a member of the socialist Red-Green Alliance who sits with The Left group, sponsored the display.

Members of the European Parliament can host exhibitions on its premises, subject to rules and approval procedures. Those rules restrict displays considered offensive or inflammatory, contrary to EU values or likely to undermine the institution's dignity.

A Parliament spokesperson confirmed that its quaestors, a cross-party group responsible for administrative matters, had approved the exhibition after assessing its compliance with the applicable rules.

That approval permits the sculpture to be displayed. It does not mean Parliament endorses Galschiøt's political criticism or has adopted the work's message as an institutional position.

Clausen said the purpose was to provoke debate. 'The way Trump acts is a very, very big problem for people in Europe,' he said.

The sponsor said the only negative response he had encountered came from 'some people from the extreme right wing'. That was his account of the reactions he had received, rather than a comprehensive assessment of opinion within Parliament.

He also said it was important that the institution could display work 'that not everybody agrees with'.

Artist Connects the Work to Power and Inequality

Galschiøt has exhibited the sculpture before, including during the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025 and at the Munich Security Conference.

He is also known for 'Pillar of Shame', a memorial to victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. The University of Hong Kong removed that sculpture from its campus in December 2021.

The artist links the works through their focus on unequal power. 'This is about the powerful and the powerless,' he said.

After the Strasbourg exhibition, Galschiøt plans to display the Trump sculpture at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, in November 2026.

For now, the miniature replicas extend the temporary display beyond the full-size work, giving visitors a portable version of the artist's protest while the exhibition remains on Parliament premises.