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Spot the Monica Lewinsky reference in this old Bill Clinton portrait

Nine years later, the artist comes clean.

 

Dylan Love

Tech

Posted on Mar 2, 2015   Updated on May 29, 2021, 10:05 am CDT

Philadelphia painter Nelson Shanks says there’s an Easter egg hidden in his 2006 portrait of former President Bill Clinton.

Surprise! It’s a highly veiled reference to his notorious sex scandal with then-intern Monica Lewinsky.

Let’s take a look:

Nelson Shanks

Got it? No?

How about now?

Nelson Shanks

See the shadow hovering over the fireplace? Shanks confessed Friday that this is the shadow of Lewinsky’s blue dress, from which the President’s famous, impeachment-worthy ejaculate was recovered. Not only is the dress here metaphorically, but Shanks claims he painted this scene using a mannequin actually clad in such a blue dress for the ultimate in realism.

Clinton was not around for that part of the artist’s process, presumably only showing up once the background had been completed. 

H/T The Frisky | Photo via Karen Murphy/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

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*First Published: Mar 2, 2015, 6:15 pm CST