A famed Manhattan painter who played sugar daddy to a hunky young construction worker is now suing his ex-lover over an alleged $2 million extortion attempt.

Whitney Museum and MoMA artist Ross Bleckner, 69, preemptively filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court against Cody Gilman, 25, after the Kentucky laborer threatened to go public with false claims of sexual assault, according to court papers.

Bleckner met Gilman on an app for gay and bisexual men in 2015, the artist says in court papers.

They “engaged in consensual sex on several occasions” that year and then lost touch, the suit says.

Then Gilman reached out to Bleckner a couple years later when he was between jobs saying he wanted to resume the romance. He texted Bleckner “sexually provocative photographs of himself” including blowing on the end of a drill and another topless shot on a yoga mat, according to court papers.

By February Gilman had moved in to Bleckner’s storied Sagaponack, N.Y. summer home that once belonged to Truman Capote.

Gilman did chores around the home in exchange for $750 a week, the suit says. The couple regularly had “consensual sex” and Gilman posted social media photos of himself topless and working out from the Hamptons home.

He even discussed throwing a dance party at the property with one of Bleckner’s neighbors, the suit says.

In March Gilman told Bleckner he was leaving and that he’d hired a lawyer.

Bleckner later learned that Gilman had been secretly recording their conversations sexual encounters, the suit says.

In May Gilman’s attorney contacted Bleckner with a draft lawsuit that claimed the aging painter had “sexually harassed, coerced and assaulted” his client, according to court papers.

Gilman demanded in excess of $2 million” otherwise he “would publicly accuse [Bleckner] of sexual harassment, coercion and assault by filing the draft complaint,” the suit says.

He notes that he’s a “five and half foot tall 69-year-old artist” while his ex-lover is “a more than six foot tall 25-year-old construction worker.”

Bleckner is suing for unspecified damages.

“By filing this lawsuit, Ross Bleckner is saying that he refuses to be intimidated, refuses to be a victim, and is not afraid of the truth,” his attorney Seth Rosenberg told The Post.

Gilman did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Bleckner, known for his minimalist works, served as a U.N. goodwill ambassador in the fight against human trafficking and has been a longtime AIDS activist.