Late multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein had a painting in his mansion of former U.S. President Bill Clinton lounging on a chair in the Oval Office in a blue dress and red heels, with him pointing at the viewer.
The bizarre picture, which was prominently on display in a room at the Upper East Side house of the deceased millionaire, was seen by several visitors to the house.
The blue dress was clearly a reference to the scandal in the 1990s that involved the young White House intern Monica Lewinsky who wore a blue dress to her tryst with the former president.
A visitor to Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in October 2012 saw the painting and snapped a photo. The visitor told MailOnline that the painting “was a very provocative, sexual picture.”
Law Enforcement sources that spoke with the New York Post said that painting “was hanging up there prominently as soon as you walked in a room to the right. Everybody who saw it laughed and smirked.”
Former President Bill Clinton was friends with Epstein, who was charged with child sex trafficking and was awaiting trial in custody when he reportedly committed suicide by hanging last week.
Clinton’s relationship with Epstein has been the subject of gossip, rumors and speculation. The former U.S. president was known to have flown, at least a few times, on Epstein’s private Boeing 727 jet, nicknamed the Lolita Express by the tabloid media.
Oil painting called "Parsing Bill" by Petrina Ryan-Kleid reported to be hanging in Jeffrey Epstein's NYC townhouse.
It's one of those paintings where the finger follows you all around the room. pic.twitter.com/TH6ZGb8Nhh
— greetings-from-Forlornica (@pussy_nagasaki) August 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/dmartosko/status/1161756227120095232
‘Parsing Bill’ was by artist Petrina Ryan-Kleid
The oil painting of Bill Clinton in a blue dress and red heels is titled Parsing Bill, and was painted by Australian-American artist Petrina Ryan-Kleid.
The original is an oil-on-canvas painting measuring 40 W x 40 H x 2 in. Pints of the painting can still be obtained on the online art gallery Saatchi Art. It’s not known whether Epstein’s version was the original or a print.
Who is artist Petrina Ryan-Kleid?
According to her profile on Saatchi Art, Petrina Ryan-Kleid is a native of Australia. She studied at Tertiary College in Brisbane, Australia, and came to the U.S. in 2010 where she attended the New York Academy of Art, New York. She received an MFA from the New York Academy of Art in 2012.
Ryan-Kleid exhibited Parsing Bill for her degree show when she graduated from the New York Academy of Art in 2012.
She works on paint murals and specializes in realism. Her work focuses on satire, with celebrities and politicians as subjects of her satirical portrayals.
Besides Parsing Bill, Ryan-Kleid also did a painting of former President George W. Bush, titled War Games. The painting shows Bush sitting on the floor in the Oval Office playing with toy airplanes.
Many of her works have been exhibited in the U.S. and Australia and some can be found in public and private collections.
She exhibited her work at the Yashir Gallery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in April 2013, and won the Gold Coast Arts and Council Chambers Exhibit Award.
Petrina also privately teaches painting to novice, intermediate and advanced students.
According to her LinkedIn profile, she currently works as marketing communications director for Tarifica, a Manhattan-based software company.