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US President Donald Trump has been turned into an emperor.
Not the usual kind, dressed in ceremonial robes and surrounded by symbols of power. This emperor is 8.5 feet tall, orange, naked, and covered in a thin layer of 23-karat gold.
Titled The Orange Plague, the sculpture by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt was installed at the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week.
The sculpture, also dubbed the “King of Injustice,” depicts the US president sitting on the shoulders of a frail, smaller figure. His thighs and sagging belly wrap tightly around the man’s head, while his hands clutch a long golf club and the scales of justice. The golf ball is made to resemble the globe.
“I am sitting on the back of a man,” reads the text on the statue’s plinth. “He is sinking under my burden. I will do anything to help him. Except step down from his back.”
For Galschiøt, the work symbolises what he sees as the US president’s threats to the environment and the rules-based world order.
The image is provocative by design. But its inspiration did not come from modern politics alone. It came from a nearly 200-year-old fairy tale.
The artist has said the sculpture draws on Hans Christian Andersen’s famous story The Emperor’s New Clothes, one of the most enduring political allegories ever written.
Published in 1837, the tale follows a vain emperor obsessed with appearances. Two swindlers convince him that they can weave magical clothes invisible to fools and those unfit for their positions. Not wanting to appear unworthy, the emperor’s advisers pretend they can see the garments. So do officials, courtiers and eventually the public.
The deception grows until the emperor proudly parades through the streets wearing nothing at all.
No one dares speak the obvious truth. Each praises the imaginary clothes, afraid that acknowledging the obvious might expose him as foolish or unworthy.
It is only when a child finally says, "But he isn't wearing anything," that the illusion collapses.
That is the symbolism Galschiøt appears to be invoking through The Orange Plague. The emperor is fooled, but so is everyone around him. Fear, flattery and conformity become more powerful than truth.
Even the sculpture’s gold covering carries a meaning. It evokes the illusion of grandeur at the centre of Andersen’s tale.
Like the emperor who believes he is wearing magnificent garments, the figure in the copper sculpture is covered in gold, projecting wealth, power and importance -- a reference to Trump’s well-known fascination with gold and luxury.
His Trump is not simply a caricature of a powerful politician. He is the emperor -- elevated, gilded and exposed -- while the figure carrying him represents those who bear the weight of his power.
The sculpture also draws attention to one of the central ideas in Andersen’s story: the role of the courtiers.
The emperor's problem was never simply that he had no clothes. It was that everyone around him was willing to pretend otherwise.
The connection becomes even more striking because Andersen was himself Danish. Nearly two centuries after writing the story, one of Denmark's best-known literary creations is being repurposed as a form of political commentary inside one of Europe's most important political institutions.
Whether one agrees with the artist's message or not, the choice of inspiration is revealing.
For generations, The Emperor's New Clothes has been used as a warning about the dangers of unquestioning admiration and the ease with which people can become trapped in collective illusion. The phrase itself has entered political vocabulary around the world, often invoked whenever people believe that obvious truths are being ignored.
That may explain why the story remains so relevant long after the monarchies and royal courts of Andersen's era have faded into history.
Political leaders change. So do parties, ideologies and controversies.
But the temptation to praise power, to follow the crowd, and to remain silent when speaking out feels uncomfortable is hardly unique to any one period.
Perhaps that is why a fairy tale written in 19th-century Denmark still resonates in 21st-century politics.
Nearly two centuries after Andersen wrote his tale, Galschiøt has simply changed the emperor’s face.
The question remains the same: who will tell him he is naked?
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