Abraham Lincoln painting featured at Hamptons art fair victim of heist: ‘Lessons learned’

Abraham Lincoln continues to have pop cultural moments 159 years after his time.

After Page Six reported that a new documentary posits that the 16th American president was gay — and Broadway’s hottest show “Oh, Mary!” cheekily portrays Honest Abe as a not-so-honest hubby — an eye-catching painting Lincoln was hanging at the recent Hamptons Art Fair.

Created by Dallas-based artist Lindsay Ekstrom, the $36,000 portrait of Lincoln called “Forever Friday” shows the Great Emancipator dapperly dressed in a floral tux jacket with a baller Rolex, a blinged out diamond ring and personalized cufflinks.

Ekstrom — who specializes in dandified or hipsterized portraits of cultural icons like Albert Einstein with tattoos, Frida Kahlo in overalls or George Washington in a Louis Vuitton jacket — has also painted Lincoln in an Adidas track jacket and jeans.

The Lincoln piece that hung at the Hamptons fair had a turbulent history itself! The piece had been damaged in an apparent art heist gone wrong.

The artist explained on Instagram that in early 2022, “I was commissioned to paint a George Washington and an Abraham Lincoln to be hung side by side in a board room. After they were finished, they were crated, and left with a [courier].”

But while, “George Washington arrived in Utah unscathed… Abe, unfortunately was nowhere to be found.
‘Forever Friday’ had been heisted! After weeks of investigation we found the truth of what happened and the painting of Abe was recovered. By then, I had repainted the piece ‘Forever Friday’ for our collectors, so George was no longer alone.”

Ekstrom wrote: “Lessons learned: 1. Do NOT advertise the contents of the crate on the outside,” since the crate said, “Rad art inside, fragile!”

She also wrote: “2. If you are an art thief, be more careful when breaking into the crate of an original painting.”

The painting that showed is the Hamptons was the one that had been pilfered and recovered, and had a gash in the canvas when it was found.

Ekstrom’s husband and the business director of the couple’s gallery, LX Artworks, told us: “We took that piece back, [and] because she loved that piece so much we re-stretched it, she repainted the canvas.” He added of the artist, “She was never going to sell that,” but then recently decided to show the reimagined Lincoln piece in the Hamptons.

Aaron also explained how Lindsay has a special affinity for Lincoln as a subject.

“She painted Abe as her very first portrait,” he said. “She read his biography and just fell in love with him.”