Trump Calls For New ‘Colossus Statue’ of George Washington In 2032 Plan - Newsweek

President Donald Trump has called for a 30-foot “Washington Colossus” to replace a modernist sculpture outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, part of a series of proposed changes honoring the first president ahead of the 300th anniversary of his birth.

In two Truth Social posts late Friday, Trump asked the Smithsonian to immediately begin an exhibition about George Washington that would continue through February 22, 2032.

He also called for an existing 11-foot bronze statue of Washington to be installed in the museum’s Flag Hall on Constitution Day, Sept. 17, before the larger sculpture is completed.

“Then, as soon as it is ready, install a 30-foot Washington Colossus where ‘Infinity’ stands today,” Trump wrote in a second post.

The proposal is the latest front in Trump’s efforts to reshape how the Smithsonian presents American history.

In March 2025, he signed an executive order directing Vice President JD Vance to work to remove what the administration called “improper ideology” from the institution and its museums. The White House later issued a report criticizing Smithsonian exhibitions for allegedly diminishing the country’s founders and emphasizing race, slavery and colonialism.

However, it is unclear whether Trump can compel the Smithsonian to make the requested changes. The institution operates outside the executive branch and is overseen by a Board of Regents that includes Vance, Chief Justice John Roberts, members of Congress and citizen regents.

Trump described “Infinity,” the stainless steel abstract sculpture outside the museum, as “strange” and said it “tells visitors nothing about America.” Created by artist José de Rivera, the rotating sculpture was commissioned by the federal government and installed in 1967. Smithsonian curator David Shayt described it as the first modern abstract sculpture commissioned by the U.S. government for a public building in Washington.

The smaller Washington statue Trump wants displayed inside the museum appeared at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, an IndyCar street race held around the National Mall on August 22 and 23 as part of the United States’ 250th-anniversary celebrations. The French sculpture collective Atelier Missor said it built the bronze work and posted an image showing six men standing beside it in a workshop.

Trump said Washington was “easily America’s Greatest Hero,” adding: “Without him, our Country and our Freedoms wouldn’t exist.” He also accused the museum of failing to give Washington and other Founding Fathers sufficient attention during the country’s semiquincentennial celebrations.

Newsweek has contacted the Smithsonian, via email outside of normal working hours, for comment.

The 11-foot bronze Washington was made by Atelier Missor, a small French sculpture collective founded by Missor Movahed after monuments were vandalized and toppled during protests in 2020. Movahed, who had no formal training in sculpture, began the project with friends and learned traditional techniques using material available online, he told The Spectator.

French business records show Atelier Missor was registered in 2021 and is based in Crégy-lès-Meaux, east of Paris. The company is listed as having between three and five employees, although photographs shared by the collective show a larger group working on some projects.

The group specializes in classical, figurative sculpture and says it uses the centuries-old lost-wax method to cast works in bronze. Its website lists statues of Hercules, Joan of Arc and Napoleon among its projects, while promoting plans for enormous titanium monuments that it says could endure for millions of years.

Atelier Missor has also attracted controversy. A French court found that officials in Nice improperly awarded the collective a 170,000-euro contract for a gilded bronze statue of Joan of Arc without competition. An appeals court later allowed the contract to stand, finding that the violation was not an intentional attempt to favor the group.

The collective has not publicly disclosed who commissioned or paid for the Washington statue, how it was transported to the United States or what would happen to it after its proposed installation at the Smithsonian. The work is also not listed among the completed monuments on Atelier Missor’s website.

Contact Newsweek editor on this story: Edward Pearcey.