During a lavish New Year’s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, President Donald Trump played auctioneer, selling off a painting of Jesus for $2.75 million. Proceeds, the president said, will go to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and a sheriff’s department.
Artist Vanessa Horabuena “speed-painted” the picture in minutes while worship music played. Trump began bidding on the blue-eyed Jesus portrait at $100,000. When the price went up to $1 million, the president called that amount “peanuts.”
Trump then offered to sign the painting, in an effort to raise the price. The winning bidder, who wasn’t identified, bought the painting for $2.75 million.
President Auctions Jesus Portrait on New Year’s Eve
At his New Year’s Eve bash, President Trump praised Vanessa Horabuena as “one of the greatest artists anywhere in the world.” The 40-year-old artist, who has a gallery in Arizona, delivered a painting titled “Prayers for Our President” to the White House last May.
On her blog, Horabuena posted a photo from the Oval Office, writing that “several of my heroes were in one room!” President Trump “went on and on about how much he loves my art,” she added.
Horabuena also recapped a conversation she had with Charlie Kirk that day, about catching “some heat for my inauguration painting a while back.”
The painter’s online bio describes her struggles with a dysfunctional childhood home, sexual abuse, depression, and suicide attempts. The turning point, Horabuena wrote, occurred at her home church in Phoenix, when she met with a pastor who explained Christ’s grace and compassion.
Horabuena, who describes herself as a “Christian worship artist,” added:
As long as I have breath in my lungs, I will use every gift [God has] given me to carry His presence into the rooms where decisions are made. Into the places culture says God doesn’t belong. Into places the enemy thinks he owns. I want to see the name of Jesus lifted high in the White House. In government. In leadership. In every corner of this country.
