Video shows wax Lincoln sculpture melted after 'wild heat' hits DC

Record temperatures in the U.S., particularly the northeast has all of us melting, including Abraham Lincoln.

A 3,000 pound wax statue of the former president, present outside an elementary school in the nation's capital, melted as temperatures hit triple digits last weekend. Pictures and videos of the statue, that have since then gone viral over social media, show Lincoln slumped into his chair, with netizens referring to it as an apt visual of how they feel in this heat wave.

CulturalDC, a non-profit organization that had commissioned the 6-foot statue, in an update on their website, said that the wax sculpture by artist Sandy Williams IV was "intended to be burnt like a candle and to change over time, but this wild heat has done a number on Lincoln."

The organization said that the congealing point (where it begins to harden or melt) of the wax used in the statue is 140 degrees "but with this record-level heat, Lincoln has slumped into his chair more than ever anticipated!"

"All that wax is leannnnnnnning back under the weight of 2024 and the state of our warming planet," CulturalDC said.

The organization added that Lincoln's head was "purposely removed" to "prevent it from falling and breaking".

"We can’t guarantee he’ll be sitting up straight for the months ahead, but who really will be?," CulturalDC said.

More than 100 million Americans were under heat advisories or warnings from the National Weather Service last weekend. The Washington, D.C., area had record-breaking daily temperatures for two consecutive days, the weather service in Baltimore-Washington said.

On Saturday, the temperature at Dulles International Airport hit 100 degrees, breaking the previous daily high temperature record of 99 degrees set in 1988.

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No plans to repair statue, says Culture DC curator

Curator and Executive Director of CulturalDC Kristi Maiselman, in a statement to USA TODAY, said that the organization does not "intend to repair the installation."

"After consulting with the Principal at Garrison Elementary and members of the local community, we have decided to remove it before students return on August 26," Maiselman said. "This timeline is only slightly earlier than our original removal date of September 1."

Maiselman added that private collectors and larger galleries have also offered to purchase the piece, but they have not yet "made a concrete decision on where the piece will go next," and are "exploring all options."

Where is Abraham Lincoln's melting statue in DC?

The statue was placed outside Garrison Elementary School on the site of Camp Barker, a Civil War-era refugee camp that housed formerly enslaved and freed African Americans.

"Commissioned by CulturalDC and supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities through the Public Art Building Communities Grant," the statue was installed in February 2024 and was meant to be on display until September 30, 2024, according to CulturalDC's website.

"The installation is a direct commentary on DC’s history of Civil War-era Contraband Camps, refugee camps that housed formerly enslaved and free African Americans," CulturalDC says.

A first version of the statue was previously installed in September 2023 with 100 wicks, but a group of people lit up the wicks causing the statue to melt before its opening, as per Williams. The incident upset many community members and a new statue, the one currently on display, was commissioned soon after.

Why is Lincoln's statue in D.C. made of wax?

Part of Williams' "40 ACRES Archive: The Wax Monument," initiated in 2021, the statue is part of a "collection of artworks, events, performances, films, and installations that highlight and connect important Black histories from around the country."

The collection aims to "flip traditional expectations of public monuments and memorials on their heads, as a way of opening up community conversations about change and public memory," according to a statement by Williams.

Williams said that the work is "meant to be impermanent" and is meant to experience change throughout its installation. Williams added that the sculpture is meant to be interactive and reflective of the ongoing changes around it. Once the structure disintegrates or is no longer deemed publicly safe, Williams collects the wax and recycles it for another project.

"While I do often encourage these sculptures to melt, I was not expecting this version of the artwork to melt in this way," Williams said in a statement. "This melting is 100% due to the unexpected heatwaves we are experiencing on the East Coast and around the world."

"I always joked that when the climate got worse, and we were living in weather hot enough to melt these sculptures, that this work would then become environmental art. I did not expect for that day to be this past weekend," they added.

Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X @saman_shafiq7.