David Rubenstein, the philanthropist ousted as Kennedy Center chairman during President Donald Trump’s takeover of the center’s board last year, has purchased “Blue,” a 24-foot-tall sculpture removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last week. Rubenstein paid more than $2 million for the work and intends to eventually display it in the Sculpture Garden of the National Gallery of Art, The New York Times reported.

Rubenstein is chairman of the National Gallery of Art’s board of trustees. He was dismissed from the Kennedy Center’s board at the beginning of Trump’s second term, and the board members Trump subsequently named then elected him chairman of the center.

The sculpture was created by artist Joel Shapiro, who said it was a “celebration of possibility.” It was installed at the center in 2019 and was a gift to and stood on the grounds of the Reach, a 2019 addition to the Kennedy Center that was partly funded by Rubenstein. Shapiro, who died in 2025, intended the sculpture to be a permanent outdoor installation overlooking the Potomac River, The Washington Post reported.

Workers dismantled the sculpture last week and returned the pieces to the Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation, from which Rubenstein then purchased the work.

The Kennedy Center has given no reason for the sculpture’s removal. Josef Palermo, the center’s former curator of visual arts and special programming, said former center President Richard Grenell had told him to “get rid” of all the outdoor artwork because Trump wanted an entirely new collection, The Washington Post reported.

The sculpture’s removal comes amid a broader fight over the future of the Kennedy Center. The center’s board of trustees has voted to close the building for a two-year, $250 million renovation project mandated by Trump, though a federal judge temporarily blocked the closure and ruled that Trump’s name must be removed from the building.

The government is still seeking to convince courts to allow the closure and restore Trump’s name to the center. The Department of Justice has threatened to demolish the center if renovations do not take place, and Trump’s hand-picked board has voted to restore his name despite the court order.