The Thomas Kinkade Family Foundation has spoken out against a recent social media post by the Department of Homeland Security, saying that it did not authorize the usage of a painting by the artist that was paired alongside the phrase “Protect the Homeland.”
The post, which appeared on X on July 1, featured Kinkade’s Morning Pledge, which features a rain-slicked suburban street at dusk. Two children can be seen walking by a schoolhouse, in front of which a tall pole flying an American flag is planted.
Given the patriotic overtones of Kinkade works such as these, the artist’s paintings have often been seen as evocative of a distinctly American spirit that has been embraced with fervor by some right-wing causes.
“Thomas Kinkade loved this country,” reads a description for Morning Pledge on the website of Thomas Kinkade Studios, which sells prints of the late artist’s work and is separate from the Thomas Kinkade Family Foundation. “He believed in the founding fathers and their view of their fledgling republic. He absolutely knew that the United States was a beacon of hope for the world, promising fundamental justice and dignity for all those living here and help for those not allowed their basic human rights no matter where they might be.”
The DHS post featuring Morning Pledge seemed to reinforce such an interpretation and appeared to use the artwork as a plea for the upkeep of the nostalgic vision of the US offered by Kinkade. But the Thomas Kinkade Family Foundation suggested that this was not necessarily the correct way of reading the work.
“At The Kinkade Family Foundation, we strongly condemn the sentiment expressed in the post and the deplorable actions that DHS continues to carry out,” the foundation wrote in a statement posted to its website. “Like many of you, we were deeply troubled to see this image used to promote division and xenophobia associated with the ideals of DHS, as this is antithetical to our mission. We stand firmly with our communities who have been threatened and targeted by DHS, especially our immigrant, BIPOC, undocumented, LGBTQ+, and disabled relatives and neighbors.”
The foundation said that DHS’s usage of the image was “unauthorized” and that it had requested the removal of the X post, which is still live. The foundation also said that it was “consulting with our counsel on our options.”
The foundation is not the first to complain about DHS’s usage of an artwork in its recent social media posts. Earlier this month, artist Morgan Weistling said that DHS had posted an image of his painting New Life in A New Land, a frontier scene showing a woman cradling a baby inside a wagon, without his permission and accused DHS of violating his copyright. DHS posted the painting alongside the phrase “Remember your Homeland’s Heritage.”
DHS also received pushback for posting an image of John Gast’s 1872 painting American Progress, which is owned by the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. “A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending,” DHS wrote in that post.
California Governor Gavin Newsom appeared to suggest that DHS failed to understand the Gast painting’s true meaning, writing on X that the Autry Museum “heavily features Native American history and intentionally embraces a more honest, inclusive understanding of Western history—a concept the Trump administration fails to understand.”
In response, in a statement to the Houston Chronicle, a DHS spokesperson said, “If the media needs a history lesson on the brave men and women who blazed the trails and forged this Republic from the sweat of their brow, we are happy to send them a history textbook. This administration is unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage.”
