Nelson Shanks, the painter that created a portrait of former USA President, Bill Clinton in 2006, has revealed a new, never noticed before, aspect of his painting. In an interview published by the Philadelphia Daily News, he confirmed that there was more in the picture than meets the eye, referring to a nod to the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
‘The reality is he’s probably the most famous liar of all time’, Shanks says. ‘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.’
Shanks then explained that a shadow covering the Oval Office mantel in the painting has a double meaning, indicating a nod to the famous blue dress Lewinsky was wearing during her affair with the president.
‘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’, Shanks reveals. ‘It is also a bit of a metaphor in that it represents a shadow on the office he held, or on him.’
Nelson Shanks is an acclaimed artist who is renowned for creating portraits of important figures like Princess Diana, Pope John Paul II, Marisa Tomei, just to name a few.
