You probably didn’t see it coming. Nobody did, honestly. When George W. Bush left the White House in 2009, most people figured he’d spend his days mountain biking in Crawford or maybe hitting the speaking circuit for six-figure checks. Instead, the 43rd President of the United States picked up a paintbrush. He didn't just dabble; he got obsessed. And while he eventually moved on to world leaders and wounded warriors, the George Bush paintings of dogs remain the most charming, weirdly vulnerable, and humanizing part of his post-presidency pivot.
It started with an essay. Specifically, Winston Churchill’s "Painting as a Pastime." Bush read it and felt a spark. He didn't want to just look at art; he wanted to create it. He reportedly told his first instructor, Gail Norfleet, "There’s a Rembrandt trapped in this body. Your job is to find him."
He was joking, obviously. But the dedication was real.
The Barney years and the canine muse
Every artist needs a subject they know inside and out. For Bush, that was Barney, the Scottish Terrier who became a viral sensation long before we used the word "viral." If you remember the "Barney Cam" videos from the early 2000s, you know how much that dog meant to the family.
When you look at the George Bush paintings of dogs, you aren't looking at technical perfection. You’re looking at affection. His portraits of Barney, and later Miss Beazley, aren't about anatomical precision or the perfect play of light on fur. They have this thick, almost heavy application of paint. It’s impasto-lite. The eyes are usually the focal point—big, dark, and soulful.
Critics were surprisingly kind, or at least fascinated. When his work first leaked to the public in 2013—thanks to a hacker named "Guccifer" who broke into family emails—the world saw a side of a former Commander-in-Chief that felt incredibly private. There were the infamous bathtub self-portraits, sure, but the dogs? They felt like a guy just trying to capture his best friends.
The brushwork is chunky. It's bold. It’s the work of a man who isn't afraid to make a mess on the canvas.
Why these paintings actually matter in the art world
Let's be real: if these were painted by a guy named Larry in Des Moines, they’d be at a garage sale for five bucks. But they aren't by Larry. The context of who held the brush changes everything.
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Art critics like Jerry Saltz have actually given Bush some props. Why? Because the work is "unskilled" in a way that feels authentic rather than pretentious. There’s no irony here. Bush isn't trying to subvert the genre of animal portraiture. He’s just painting.
Most George Bush paintings of dogs feature a central subject against a relatively flat, colorful background. This "naive" style is actually a recognized aesthetic. It’s direct. It’s honest. In a world of high-concept contemporary art that requires a PhD to understand, there is something refreshing about a painting that says, "This is my dog, and I like him."
He studied under several Dallas-based artists, including Roger Winter and Sedrick Huckaby. Huckaby, a renowned painter himself, noted that Bush was a "diligent" student. He wasn't looking for a hobby to pass the time; he was looking for a discipline. He would paint for hours a day, often listening to music or just sitting in silence in his studio in North Dallas.
The evolution from pets to "Portraits of Courage"
While the dog paintings were the "entry drug" for his artistic career, they paved the way for more serious work. You can see the DNA of his canine portraits in his 2017 book, Portraits of Courage. In that collection, he painted 66 individuals—mostly veterans he had come to know personally through the Bush Center’s programs.
The transition is fascinating.
- He started with subjects that couldn't talk back (the dogs).
- He moved to world leaders (Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair), which felt like a political exercise.
- He eventually landed on the veterans, where the emotional weight of his presidency and his art finally merged.
But the dogs were the foundation. They taught him how to see. You can’t paint a veteran’s story if you haven't learned how to capture the spark of life in a Scottish Terrier’s eye first.
The "Hacker" incident and public perception
It's kind of wild to remember that we weren't even supposed to see these yet. In February 2013, the Guccifer hack exposed several photos of Bush's paintings. At the time, it felt like a massive invasion of privacy, but in hindsight, it was the best PR he could have asked for.
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People saw the George Bush paintings of dogs and realized the former president was... human? It’s hard to stay angry at a political figure when you see their clumsy, heartfelt attempt to paint a picture of their pet. It shifted the narrative from "War President" to "Grandpa with a Hobby."
The paintings showed a vulnerability. Painting is hard. It’s a series of public failures on a piece of fabric. By sticking with it and eventually exhibiting the work at his Presidential Library, Bush invited a level of scrutiny that most politicians spend their entire lives avoiding.
Technical details for the art nerds
If you’re wondering what he actually uses, Bush is an oil painter. He doesn't do watercolors. He likes the "forgiveness" of oils—the way you can move the paint around on the canvas for hours before it sets.
- Medium: Oil on canvas or board.
- Style: Neo-expressionist or "Naive" art.
- Common Themes: Domesticity, companionship, and later, service.
- Palette: Often bright, secondary colors with heavy black outlines for the dogs.
He doesn't sell the paintings. You can't go to a gallery and buy an original Bush Scottish Terrier. They belong to the family or are part of the permanent collection at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. This lack of a commercial angle makes the work feel more "pure" to some collectors, though "unofficial" prints and knockoffs occasionally pop up online.
The controversy of the "re-brand"
Not everyone is a fan. Some critics argue that the charm of the George Bush paintings of dogs serves as a "whitewash" of his administration’s more controversial decisions, like the Iraq War. They see the art as a calculated move to soften his image.
But talk to the people who taught him. They describe a man who was genuinely frustrated when he couldn't get a shadow right. They describe a student who took criticism without blinking. Whether or not the art changes your view of his presidency, it’s hard to deny that the act of painting changed him.
He famously said that painting has "opened my mind." It forced him to look at the world differently—to see colors in a tree trunk that he never noticed before. That’s the real value of art, isn't it? It’s not about the final product; it’s about the shift in perspective.
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Actionable ways to explore the Bush art legacy
If you're genuinely curious about this weird intersection of the Oval Office and the art studio, don't just look at low-res jpegs online.
Visit the Bush Presidential Center in Dallas
The museum often has his work on display. Seeing them in person is a totally different experience. You can see the actual height of the paint on the canvas (the "impasto" effect) which doesn't translate to a phone screen. It gives you a much better sense of his "hand" as an artist.
Read "Portraits of Courage"
If you want to see how he evolved from painting Barney to painting humans, this book is the definitive source. It includes the stories of the veterans alongside their portraits. It’s where his technical skill finally starts to catch up with his ambition.
Start your own "Bush-style" hobby
The biggest takeaway from the George Bush paintings of dogs isn't that he's a secret genius. It's that it is never too late to be a beginner. He started in his 60s. He was bad at it at first. He didn't care. If a former president can post his "ugly" dog paintings for the world to see, you can definitely start that hobby you’ve been putting off because you’re afraid of looking silly.
Check out the 2014 exhibition "The Art of Leadership"
This was the first formal exhibition of his work, featuring 30 portraits of world leaders. While the dogs weren't the "stars" here, you can see the same brushwork techniques he developed while painting his pets. It’s a fascinating study in how someone applies a "pet portrait" style to people like Vladimir Putin or Angela Merkel.
The legacy of these paintings isn't about being "good" art. It's about the fact that they exist at all. It’s a reminder that there is life after the most stressful job in the world, and sometimes, that life involves a Scottish Terrier and a tube of titanium white paint.