• Nepenthe@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    TIL JFK’s official presidential portrait looks like a zombie silently judging you from the afterlife, and it’s because it was only painted after his death. The artist’s inspiration was a photo of Ted Kennedy mourning his brother and Jackie chose that one immediately out of all the options, partially because they were both bored with the same generic stance every president has.

    I’m not really getting the thoughtful, humble vibe she intended it to have, but I do really like it

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I don’t get thoughtful or humble, but if you were to put his portrait next to that of any ten presidents that survived their term and said that one was assassinated in office I’d know instantly every time even if I didn’t know the answer. It looks mournful and representative of his being dead.

      And I think it’s interesting to wonder what it would’ve been like had he lived. I suspect something closer to Obama’s, something full of life