A naked, golden statue of US President Donald Trump, perched on the shoulders of a frail man, has gone on display inside the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France.
The 2.4m work, titled The Orange Plague, was unveiled on Tuesday. Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt covered it entirely in 23-carat gold leaf.
The sculpture shows Trump holding a golf club and a globe-shaped ball in one hand and a set of scales in the other. A thin man struggles beneath his weight.
An inscription on the base, signed by "The King of Injustice", reads: "I am sitting on the back of a man. He is sinking under my burden. I will do anything to help him. Except stepping down from his back."
Galschiøt said the work targeted Trump's environmental record.
"The sculpture is a satirical out-cry against Trump and the US assault on the green transition and the rule-based world order," he said.
Danish MEP Per Clausen is hosting the statue as part of a three-day exhibition at the parliament's seat in northeastern France, near the German border.
In a statement, Galschiøt said the piece was not aimed at the parliament itself.
"It is about the attempts by the great powers to dominate, control and reshape the world according to their own interests. Trump is an extreme and very visible symbol of this development," he said.
"I have made him naked and covered him in gold because sometimes satire can say things that political language cannot."
In a newsletter, the sculptor said he drew on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Emperor's New Clothes. He said the statue asked: "How long will we allow ourselves to carry the powerful on our backs?"
On his website, Galschiøt accused Trump of "undermining the climate efforts, rolling back hard-won progress, and even destroying the scientific data that documents it".
He said he was curious to see how the work would be received.
"We are all very excited to see how the exhibition is received by the decision makers of Europe."
Galschiøt is handing out free miniature versions of the sculpture to visitors at exhibitions where The Orange Plague appears.
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