The LeRoy Neiman 2026 Collector’s Edition President Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. This is the fourth year that America’s oldest family-owned premium cigar maker and the LeRoy Neiman and the Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation have collaborated to create a luxury, handcrafted cigar honoring the late, iconic, cigar-smoking American artist, LeRoy Neiman. Continuing the tradition from previous years, all profits will be donated to support arts education in public schools.
“This year’s edition features LeRoy’s painting, ‘The President’s Birthday,’ which depicts Marilyn Monroe serenading President John F. Kennedy on his birthday at Madison Square Garden in 1962,” said Drew Newman, fourth-generation owner of J.C. Newman. “Jackie Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson, among others, are also featured in the painting. We chose this patriotic image because this year is the 250th birthday of the United States.”
“‘The President’s Birthday’ is one of LeRoy’s most luminous works—a painting that captures a singular, electric moment when art, celebrity, and American history converged in one room,” said Tara Zabor, LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation Executive Director. “LeRoy had an extraordinary gift for being present at the defining moments of our history and translating them onto canvas with an energy that made you feel like you were standing right there beside him. He was fiercely proud of being an American, and his body of work is essentially a chronicle of America at its most iconic—its champions, its cultural giants, its greatest celebrations. His brushwork was a love letter to American life in all its vibrancy and spectacle. With this collaboration, we are honored to see ‘The President’s Birthday’ take on new life and reach new audiences.”