Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart demands removal of her ‘unflattering’ portrait from national gallery

Both mining magnate Gina Rinehart and associates at her company, Hancock Prospecting, have made multiple approaches to the gallery with the demand, the newspaper reported.

The painting is by Vincent Namatjira, a First Nations artist who, according to the National Gallery of Australia has “established himself in the past decade as a celebrated portraitist and a satirical chronicler of Australian identity.”

The portrait of Rinehart is part of a career-survey exhibition titled “Vincent Namatjira: Australia in colour.”

It is one of 20 other paintings depicting Rinehart alongside Australian and international figures including Queen Elizabeth, Jimi Hendrix, and the artist himself. All are painted in Namatjira’s distinctive distorted style.

Rinehart, who is worth more than US$22 billion and is in 84th place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is depicted in shades of mottled pink with a double chin.

She reportedly approached the gallery director personally to ask for the portrait to be removed. According to the Herald, Hancock Prospecting has said the gallery is “doing the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party” by showing her in an unflattering light.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The gallery “welcomes the public having a dialogue” about its displays, it said in a statement shared with Business Insider.

The gallery also shared a statement from the artist, who said that he emphasises painting wealthy and powerful people who have influenced Australia “whether for bad or for good.”

“People don’t have to like my paintings, but I hope they take the time to look and think, ‘why has this Aboriginal bloke painted these powerful people?’” Namatjira wrote. “‘What is he trying to say?’”

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