(TNND) — A satirical statue of President Donald Trump called “The Orange Plague” went on display outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
Danish artist Jens Galschiøt told CNN the 8.5-foot sculpture depicts Trump naked and covered in 23-carat gold leaf as he sits on the back of a frail man. The figure holds scales of justice, while a golf club and ball sit beside him.
“Trump likes gold,” Galschiøt said over the phone. “In a way, I think he would like this sculpture.”
“I am sitting on the back of a man,” reads the text on the 8.5-foot-tall statue’s plinth. “He is sinking under my burden. I will do anything to help him. Except step down from his back.”
Galschiøt, who also calls the work “King of Injustice,” said it represents what he sees as Trump’s threats to the environment.
“Trump is destroying all the things I believe in,” he said.
The artist said the naked depiction also alludes to Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” a story about a vain emperor who parades through town naked.
“Dictators don’t like you laughing at them,” Galschiøt said.
It is not the first public display of “The Orange Plague.” The work was previously exhibited at the Munich Security Conference and at last November’s COP30 U.N. climate conference in Brazil.
Danish politician Per Clausen, who sponsored the Strasbourg exhibit, is a member of Denmark’s socialist Red-Green Alliance party and the European Parliament’s left-wing group.
Clausen said he brought the exhibit to Parliament to spark debate about Trump’s power and influence in Europe.
“The way Trump acts is a very, very big problem for people in Europe,” Clausen told CNN. “I want to raise the discussion in Europe about how we can make our self-defense against Trump, and how can we make politics that is not dependent on him.”
A European Parliament spokesperson told CNN the exhibit was approved by the body’s quaestors, a cross-party group of MEPs responsible for administrative matters. The spokesperson said each MEP can sponsor two cultural events or exhibitions per parliamentary term in dedicated areas, and that the quaestors assess whether they comply with Parliament’s rules.
Under parliamentary rules, events or exhibits considered “offensive or of an inflammatory nature” or contrary to the EU’s values are prohibited, along with those that “undermine the dignity of Parliament.”
A sculpture titled ‘The Orange Plague’ by Danish artist Jens Galschiot depicts US President Donald Trump as a self-proclaimed King of Justice, during the 62nd Munich Security Conference on February 13, 2026 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
The approval does not amount to an official endorsement of the exhibit’s message. But Galschiøt, who said he had worried the request would be rejected, called it a form of tacit approval from European lawmakers.
Galschiøt is also known for the “Pillar of Shame,” a memorial to victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre that was removed from a Hong Kong university in 2021.
The temporary exhibit will remain on display through Thursday. More than 1,000 3D-printed miniatures of the sculpture are also being handed out to passersby as “protest tokens.”
Trump has not publicly commented on the artwork.
