President Donald Trump maintains that the Pierre-Auguste Renoir “Two Sisters (On The Terrace)” painting in his New York apartment is the original. But according to Trump biographer Tim O’Brien – and the Art Institute of Chicago – that may be fake news.
In an interview with Vanity Fair’s “Inside the Hive” podcast earlier this week, O’Brien – a Chicago native – recounted talking to Trump years ago while on the businessman’s private jet.
O’Brien said he spotted the Renoir portrait and asked Trump if it was an original. Trump said it was. O’Brien verbally disagreed, but Trump continued to protest O’Brien’s argument. According to Vanity Fair, O’Brien “dropped the conversation topic and moved on with his interview.”
“I’m sure he’s still telling people who come into the apartment, ‘It’s an original, it’s an original,’” O’Brien told Vanity Fair in the podcast interview.
In 2006, Trump sued O’Brien, author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald,” for writing in his book that Trump’s net worth was $150 million to $250 million. Trump lost the lawsuit.
The Renoir painting has popped up in the background of Trump’s apartment in two interviews: With “60 Minutes” when Trump was still president-elect; and during a Fox News interview with first lady Melania Trump.
But the Renoir piece has been hanging in the Art Institute of Chicago since 1933, its spokeswoman Amanda Hicks told CNN Wednesday. She pointed to the painting’s information page on the institute’s website.
Art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel purchased the painting from the artist in 1881. Annie Swan Coburn purchased it from Durand-Ruel for $100,000 and then gave it to the museum, Hicks said.
Hicks did not provide any further comment.
Since O’Brien’s recent interview with Vanity Fair, some people have poked fun at the painting’s authenticity on Twitter.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment regarding the painting.
CLARIFICATION: This headline has been updated to clarify the Chicago Art Institute’s comment that they own the original Renoir.