First Lady Melania Trump’s striking new official White House portrait marks a dramatic departure from traditional First Lady imagery, featuring a black-and-white composition that positions her in direct view of the Washington Monument.
The shrewd “power play” picture left some critics angered and conspiracy theories running wild on social media, including one that claims the first lady has been replaced by a body double.
Shot by longtime Trump family photographer Régine Mahaux just one day after the inauguration, the portrait places the First Lady in the Yellow Oval Room, her hands firmly planted on a reflective table as she gazes directly into the camera.
“As an artist to work with such an inspiring woman is a great privilege. She is a perfectionist and is really involved in the creative process,” Mahaux told the BBC Monday. The Belgian photographer has documented the Trump family for over two decades.
The portrait’s stark contrasts with previous First Lady photographs drew immediate attention from art experts.
“The rhyming of her body with this well-known obelisk, a symbol of the power invested in the first presidency, is striking,” said Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Faculty Director for the Department of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania.
The First Lady’s positioning above the Oval Office, rather than in the family quarters where her 2017 portrait was shot, suggests an evolution in her White House role.
“She appears ready to wield more of the power that she seemed rather reluctant to embrace in her first stay at the White House,” Shaw noted. “And yet, she has positioned herself firmly behind that ultra shiny table, keeping a bit of a boundary between herself and the viewer.”
Fashion experts said there seems to be deliberate messaging in the First Lady’s attire.
“From the suit to the stance, the new portrait feels carefully orchestrated to exude a kind of power that feels at odds with the first lady’s traditional role of softening a presidency,” fashion writer Ellie Violet Bramley observed.
The portrait’s release sparked immediate social media reaction, with supporters praising its “confident, classy and powerful” aesthetic while critics continued to circulate the strange “body double” conspiracy theory.
The image arrives as Mrs. Trump, the only First Lady in nearly 200 years born outside the United States, prepares for her second term in the White House after maintaining a notably private profile during her husband’s campaign.
Gone are the soft focus and half-smile of her 2017 portrait, replaced by direct eye contact that experts say projects authority while maintaining her characteristic enigmatic presence.
Here are the two official portraits of First Lady Melania Trump from 2017 and 2025.
Which one do you like better? pic.twitter.com/AdJikFlbg7
— Colton Blake 🇺🇸 (@ColtonBlakeX) January 27, 2025