Monica Lewinsky will forever tarnish the image of former President Bill Clinton, and in more ways than one, too. In addition to forever being the intern with whom the president had sexual dalliances, Monica Lewinsky now forever graces the official portrait taken of Clinton–the one that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
In a recent interview with the Philadelphia Daily News, artist Nelson Shanks says the shadow that appears in the portrait, to the left of Bill Clinton, was created by his use of a mannequin wearing a blue dress. Anyone who remembers anything at all about the Clinton presidency remembers Monica Lewinsky, and that stained blue dress.
The subject came up when Shanks was asked during the aforementioned interview, about the most difficult person he ever painted.
“Clinton was hard,” Shanks answered. “I’ll tell you why. The reality is he’s probably the most famous liar of all time. He and his administration did some very good things, of course, but I could never get this Monica thing completely out of my mind and it is subtly incorporated in the painting.”
Bill Clinton's portrait includes a nod to Monica Lewinsky, the painter says http://t.co/fexVbsCVLT pic.twitter.com/tUlibkEiTy
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) March 2, 2015
“If you look at the left-hand side of it there’s a mantle in the Oval Office and I put a shadow coming into the painting and it does two things,” the artist added. “It actually literally represents a shadow from a blue dress that I had on a mannequin, that I had there while I was painting it, but not when he was there. It is also a bit of a metaphor in that it represents a shadow on the office he held, or on him.”
Now, of course, both Bill and Hillary Clinton want the portrait, forever tainted with memories of Monica Lewinsky, removed from the National Portrait Gallery–at least according to Nelson Shanks.
No one at the National Portrait Gallery has yet to confirm that statement.
Monica Lewinsky talked during a recent interview about how she felt while ‘falling in love’ with Bill Clinton. It’s likely when she gets wind of her ‘appearance’ in this portrait, she’ll want it taken down, too.
Can you see Monica Lewinsky in the portrait of Bill Clinton? Do you think Bill and Hillary Clinton will make an issue of its presence or choose to ignore it instead?