Photos: Presidents’ Official White House Portraits Over Past 100 Years
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ThePostMaster- February 16, 2026
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- The White House released a new official portrait of President Donald Trump in June.
- The dramatically lit photo shows Trump against a dark backdrop with a serious expression.
- Unlike most contemporary presidential portraits, the background doesn’t include an American flag.
President Donald Trump’s official White House portrait does not feature an American flag in the background — it’s the first presidential photo in over 60 years without one.
Taken by chief White House photographer Daniel Torok, the dramatically lit photo shows Trump against a dark backdrop with a serious expression. The style hearkens back to the past presidential portrait styles of Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and Calvin Coolidge, who also appeared unsmiling against dark backgrounds.
And while there is no flag behind Trump in his new portrait, he is wearing an American flag pin on the lapel of his blue suit, a tradition that began with President George W. Bush’s photo.
A portrait of Trump released earlier last year, which did feature an American flag, was taken during the presidential transition period and “was always meant to serve as a placeholder,” a White House official told Business Insider.
The new photo is one of several aesthetic changes Trump has made to the White House in his second non-consecutive term. In the Entrance Hall, he moved President Barack Obama’s painted White House portrait across the hall and replaced it with a painting depicting his raised fist following an assassination attempt. He has also added numerous gilded gold furnishings to the Oval Office and paved over the lawn in the Rose Garden to create a terrace he said would be better suited for large events.
Take a look at how presidential portraits have changed through the years.
President Calvin Coolidge, 1923
Library of Congress
President Herbert Hoover, 1929
Underwood & Underwood
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933
Elias Goldensky/Library of Congress
President Harry Truman, 1945
Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
President Dwight Eisenhower, 1953
Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
President John F. Kennedy, 1961
Bachrach/Getty Images
President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963
Official White House photo
President Richard Nixon, 1969
Official White House photo
President Gerald Ford, 1974
Official White House photo
President Jimmy Carter, 1977
Official White House photo by Karl Schumacher
President Ronald Reagan, 1981
Official White House photo
President George H.W. Bush, 1989
Official White House photo by David Valdez
President Bill Clinton, 1993
Official White House photo
President George W. Bush, 2001
Official White House photo by Eric Draper
President Barack Obama, 2009
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama, 2013
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Donald Trump, 2017
Official White House photo by Shealah Craighead
President Joe Biden, 2021
Official White House photo by Adam Schultz
President Donald Trump, 2025
Official White House photo by Daniel Torok
President Donald Trump, 2025
Official White House photo by Daniel Torok