Trump Tower, New York enters the diary through the making and negotiation of images: Andy Warhol photographed its architectural model, then produced paintings intended for its lobby. The project became a portrait of a building still being visually specified, as much as a straightforward depiction of a finished place.

The building as a photographic subject

In May 1981, Chris Makos and Warhol went with Marc Balet to photograph the building’s architectural model. The model was not merely a miniature setting: Warhol intended to use it as the basis for a portrait. His interest in the tower thus took shape through a process of mediation, with the building first encountered as an imageable object and then translated into art.

That approach connected the project to Warhol’s broader portrait practice. He typically began by taking about sixty Polaroids of a subject, selecting four for screen-printed positive images, and choosing and cosmetically altering one image before it was enlarged and transferred to canvas. The diary does not say that he followed every step of this procedure for the tower paintings, but the account of photographing the model establishes how photography could serve as the starting point for representing the building.

Paintings for the lobby

In August 1981, Donald Trump, his wife, and two women who worked for him came to see the paintings Warhol had made of the tower. He had produced eight, in black, gray, and silver, which he thought would look chic in the lobby. The meeting revealed a mismatch between his scheme and the client’s expectations: Trump was upset that the works were not color-coordinated with the interior.

The paintings were not simply accepted as a finished decorative proposal. Trump’s designer, Angelo Donghia, was to provide fabric swatches so Warhol could make paintings to match pinks and oranges. Warhol thought he had made too many versions and suspected that the abundance had confused the clients. The encounter left the project contingent on further choices about color and décor rather than recording a settled installation.

Commission and outcome

Warhol also saw the tower paintings as an opening to another commission. He let the visitors see portraits of Lynn Wyatt displayed behind the building paintings, hoping that Mrs. Trump might consider having a portrait made. The diary records this as a possibility, not as a portrait order or a completed arrangement.

The tower’s place in the account is therefore defined by a chain of proposed and revised images: a model photographed as the basis for a portrait, eight architectural paintings presented for the lobby, and a possible shift toward color-matched versions. The record documents the negotiations and Warhol’s assessment of the presentation, but does not establish whether the revised paintings were made or installed.