Why Does Donald Trump Hate This Sculpture?

The president wants the Smithsonian to add a colossal George Washington statue—and remove another work of abstract art in D.C.

Christine Kao / The Washington Post / Getty September 14, 2026, 12:20 PM ET Share Save The sculpture that Donald Trump wants removed from the National Mall has a reputation even among its admirers for being a bit inscrutable. Dedicated in 1967 at what is now the National Museum of American History, José de Rivera’s Infinity looks, fittingly, like an infinity symbol with an extra twist. (A bow? A pretzel?) By pairing the technical prowess required to create smooth, curved metal with the delicate spinning of a music box, the slow-turning work seems to take a different form each time you pass it. The museum’s architect, Walker O. Cain, wrote that Infinity “has the characteristic of stimulating everyone who has seen it to create his own personal imaginative interpretation.”