We the People II, 2018

We the People II was commissioned in 2018 by Nick Massad and Joe Roberts as a continuation of Turner’s earlier The Light of Freedom. The idea was simple and ambitious: to show the American presidency as one unbroken line of history, beginning with Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln and extending forward through modern leadership.

The painting shows President Donald J. Trump seated in the Oval Office, with First Lady Melania Trump standing beside him. Around them are ghosted portraits of historical figures who mark defining moments of progress, leadership, and human rights, woven into the composition as witnesses rather than subjects.

Shortly after the painting was finished, Turner received an unexpected phone call from Rick Perry, then Secretary of Energy, who had been shown an image of it. Perry said that both Jared Kushner and President Trump had seen the work and wanted it delivered to the White House. Perry carried the painting inside himself.

The Executive Orders version, with a prominent stack of executive orders on the desk, was produced shortly after the original and became the most widely collected edition. The original, with a young girl visible at the corner of the desk, was presented directly to President Trump. Turner has described that moment as deeply human: an artist watching a work leave his hands and enter the historical record. We the People II is documentation, a record of leadership seen through American continuity, and is not intended as political commentary.