In a new report published by the State Department’s Bureau of Protocol, records show that former President Joe Biden received a $19,000 painting from the president of Angola, João Lourenço, last year.
The report, published annually, details gifts given to the president, their spouse, members of the cabinet, and other senior officals by foreign leaders and governments. Federal employees are required to report such gifts, if they are worth more than $480. Usually, those gifts are then transferred to the National Archives or the General Servies Administration, unless the recipient chooses to reimburse the US Treasury for them.
The most recent report, which covers 2024, showed that Biden was gifted the painting, titled Marimba, by Augusto Guizef Guilherme, a self-taught Angolan painter. According to AfriKin, a Miami-based nonprofit that promotes contemporary African and diasporic art, Guilherme’s work “celebrates the cultural richness of Africa” and has been included in international exhibitions in Zurich, Lisbon, and Miami.
“It’s the natural beauty that rural African women posses that creates a sense of obligation to the ancestors as they have left a legacy and footprint that is necessary to be uplifted and celebrated,” Guilherme wrote in an artist statement published to the website of North Waveland, an artist collective.
Other artworks received by Biden included a $3,300 sculpture of a winged woman from the prime minister of Iraq; $3,300 in photographs and artwork from the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, $3,000 in sculpture, photographs, posters, and books from the President of France. Former Vice President Kamala Harris received a $1,440 ceramic bowl from the first lady of South Korea, and a $1,460 painting from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
All of the above gifts were transferred to the National Archives.
