Trump unveils bright gold sculptures in Washington overhaul
President Donald Trump has shared images showing the ongoing restoration of the Arts of War and the Arts of Peace statues in Washington, D.C., part of a series of ambitious construction projects in the capital that the president has ordered since returning to office in January 2025.
Trump shared four images of one of the recently regilded statues surrounded by scaffolding and construction workers. “Taking down the scaffolding around the regilded Arts of War sculptures!” he wrote on Truth Social.
The president’s other major construction projects include remodeling parts of the White House, a 250-foot-tall triumphal arch along the Potomac River, the renovation of one of D.C.’s historic public golf courses and ongoing plans for a statue garden to honor figures from American history.
In April, the National Park Service awarded a $5.1 million contract to a Maryland-based gilding studio to restore the Arts of War and the Arts of Peace, according to federal records. Work began that month on the four bronze horse statues and is set to continue until September.
Leo Friedlander, an American sculptor, created the Arts of War. The art deco group consists of two statues, Valor and Sacrifice, which frame the entrance to Arlington Memorial Bridge.
Meanwhile, another American sculptor, James Earle Fraser, sculpted the Arts of Peace, featuring the neoclassical statues Music and Harvest and Aspiration and Literature, which frame the entrance to the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway.
This is a developing story. More to follow.
