A new exhibit of Colorado legislator pictures hangs in the former U.S. presidential portrait gallery at the state Capitol.
Organizers say the new exhibit celebrates Colorado’s 150th anniversary of statehood. But some visitors may wonder: Where did the U.S. presidential portraits go?
Visitor services spokeswoman Amanda Clapham has the answer. Those U.S. presidential portraits—including President Donald Trump, former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and others currently are stored elsewhere in the building. She said building officials who decide on exhibits remain undecided about whether the presidential portraits will be displayed in the gallery again after the legislator exhibit is taken down.
Visitors like Terri Hoops say they want to see the portraits.
“There's plenty of wall space. It seems like we could still put all of them back out somewhere,” Hoops said.
In March 2025, President Donald Trump criticized his portrait as “purposely distorted” and “truly the worst” in a post on Truth Social. After that, Trump’s portrait, which had been displayed since 2019, was removed and replaced with a new one donated by the White House.
Anastasia Steiner, a legislative aide, said that the drama continued after Trump disliked the new portrait as well. In November (EDS: 2025), the Capitol Building Advisory Committee voted to temporarily replace all the presidential portraits, following President Donald Trump’s criticism.
“They finally decided that because it was so controversial, they were just going to take down all the portraits,” Steiner said.
Clapham said the council discussed removing the portraits for some time before the decision was made.
“The presidential portrait gallery, it filled the space. It looks nice, but it didn't really have anything connected to the state,” Clapham said.
Clapham said the staff wants to focus this year more on Colorado in its 150th year of statehood.
“It has a lot less to do with the actual presidential portraits and more to do with what this building in particular should represent,” Clapham said.
Hoops said she hopes the U.S. presidential portraits will eventually be displayed again.
“It is newsworthy, and it is divisive,” Hoops said. “I wish we could see, but I understand.”