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Workers Begin Removing Kennedy Center’s ‘Blue’ Sculpture From Grounds

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Workers have started to remove a 24-foot-tall sculpture called "Blue" from the Kennedy Center's grounds in Washington, The New York Times and Forbes reported on Wednesday, with the removal following reported plans to replace all of the artwork after President Donald Trump's takeover of the performing arts center.

Workers were seen disassembling the aluminum stick-figure structure in photos taken by The Associated Press. The artwork has stood on the grounds since 2019 after its donation by the late artist Joel Shapiro, according to the center's website.

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A representative with the center, reached by the Times, did not give a reason for its removal. They said the artist's foundation would determine its next location.

The center's former curator of visual arts and special programming wrote in The Atlantic in April that he had been instructed by the center's president, Richard Grenell, to "get rid of everything" before he was laid off in March. This order was in preparation for all new permanent artwork that would arrive as part of the country's 250th birthday celebration and a planned closure of the center, wrote Josef Palermo.

If the artworks' donors wouldn't pay for the removal, Palermo said, Grenell told him the center could put the artwork up for auction or give it away.