You probably remember the leak. It was 2013, and a hacker named "Guccifer" managed to get into the email accounts of the Bush family. Suddenly, the internet was staring at photos of oil paintings. There was the 43rd President of the United States in a bathtub, his back turned to the viewer, reflected in a small shaving mirror. Another showed his legs sticking out in a tub. It was surreal.
Most people laughed. It felt like a bizarre punchline to a presidency that had been defined by heavy, world-altering events. But then something happened. People kept looking.
What started as a hobby to kill time in suburban Dallas turned into a legitimate, if controversial, second act. Since then, paintings by George W. Bush have moved from leaked bathroom selfies to a serious solo exhibition at the Kennedy Center and a best-selling book. He isn't just dabbing at a canvas; he’s obsessed. He reportedly spends hours every day in his studio. It’s a strange trajectory for a man who once joked that "the 'P' in 'Bush' stands for 'Painter'"—wait, that’s not right—actually, he just told his instructor, Bonnie Flood, "There's a Rembrandt trapped in this body. Your job is to find it."
The transition from "The Decider" to the "The Painter"
Retirement is weird for anyone, but imagine being the guy who had the nuclear football following him for eight years. When Bush left the White House in 2009, he didn't join a dozen corporate boards or spend every waking second on the lecture circuit like many of his predecessors. He went home to Crawford and Dallas. He read a book by Winston Churchill called Painting as a Pastime.
Churchill, another world leader who turned to the brush to escape the "black dog" of depression and the weight of history, became the blueprint. Bush started taking lessons. He didn't want to be a hobbyist who painted fruit bowls. He hired real teachers like Flood and Roger Winter. He wanted to learn the technical side of things: how to mix colors, how to handle a palette knife, how to understand light.
Honestly, the early stuff was rough. The colors were flat. The perspective was a bit wonky. But he stayed with it. He moved from dogs—mostly his Scottish Terrier, Barney—to landscapes, and eventually to the most difficult subject of all: the human face. This wasn't just about passing time. It was a visible, messy process of someone trying to reconcile their past through art.
Portraits of Courage and the weight of the Veterans
The real shift in public perception came with the Portraits of Courage collection. This wasn't just "paintings by George W. Bush" as a curiosity; this was a massive project involving 66 full-color portraits and a four-panel mural. The subjects? The wounded warriors he had sent into battle.
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These aren't "pretty" paintings. They are thick with impasto—that’s the technique where paint is laid on so thick it stands out from the surface. You can see the struggle in the brushstrokes. Critics at the New York Times and The New Yorker, who usually wouldn't give a political figure the time of day in the art world, actually found themselves being... kind? Peter Schjeldahl, the late, legendary critic, noted that Bush had a "startlingly high aptitude" for the medium.
There is a profound irony here. He is painting the faces of men and women who were physically and mentally scarred by the wars he started. Some viewers see this as a form of penance. Others see it as a self-indulgent attempt to rewrite a legacy. Regardless of where you land politically, the paintings themselves are heavy. They don't look like the work of a man who is at peace. They look like the work of a man who is thinking. Deeply.
What the critics actually say (It’s not all bad)
If you talk to art historians, they’ll tell you his style falls somewhere between Impressionism and "Fauvism"—a style that uses bold, non-naturalistic colors.
- The Bathtub Series: These remain the most psychologically interesting. They are vulnerable. For a man who was always seen in a suit or a flight suit, seeing him in a tub is a total subversion of power.
- The World Leaders: Bush painted portraits of Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, and the Dalai Lama. These are... fascinatingly awkward. The Putin portrait, in particular, captures a certain coldness that Bush later admitted he felt during their meetings.
- The Veterans: As mentioned, these are his most technically proficient works. They show a real command of "the gaze."
He isn't a master. Not yet, anyway. But he's better than most "celebrity artists." He understands how to use a limited palette to create mood. He doesn't overwork the canvas, which is a common mistake for beginners. He knows when to stop.
Why the "Guccifer" hack changed everything
The 2013 hack stripped away the polished veneer. If Bush had debuted his art with a formal gallery opening, the world would have rolled its eyes. It would have felt like a PR stunt. But because we saw his private, slightly embarrassing practice pieces first—the ones he never intended for us to see—it felt authentic.
It proved he was doing it for himself. He was painting his dog. He was painting his shower. He was being a human being in a way that he never quite managed to be on camera during his presidency. That's why people started taking paintings by George W. Bush seriously. It wasn't "presidential art." It was just art.
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The technical evolution of a former President
If you look at the timeline of his work, you see a massive jump in quality around 2015. He stopped using thin washes of color and started experimenting with texture. He began using "wet-on-wet" techniques, which requires a lot of confidence because you can't easily undo a mistake.
His teacher, Roger Winter, pushed him to stop being so literal. You can see it in his landscapes of the Texas hills. They aren't postcards. They are blurry, moody, and a bit lonely.
He also moved to a larger scale. Small canvases are safe. Large canvases are intimidating. By the time he was working on the Out of Many, One collection—which focuses on the stories of immigrants to the United States—he was handling massive formats that required physical stamina. He was 70-plus years old, standing for hours, wrestling with the likeness of a North Korean refugee or a doctor from Lebanon.
The controversy of the "Artistic Legacy"
We have to talk about the elephant in the room. Can you separate the art from the artist? For many, the answer is a hard "no." They see these paintings as a way to "soften" the image of a man whose foreign policy decisions led to immense suffering. To them, every brushstroke is an attempt to distract from Iraq or Katrina.
But the art world is full of complicated people. We look at Caravaggio despite him being a murderer. We look at Picasso despite his treatment of women. Bush isn't a "great" in that category, but the principle remains: the work exists as its own entity.
Interestingly, his art has become a bridge. He has donated the proceeds from his books—millions of dollars—to the George W. Bush Institute’s Military Service Initiative. This isn't just a hobby; it’s a fundraising machine for veteran transition programs. Whether that changes your view of the art is up to you, but it’s a fact of his creative life.
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Lessons for the rest of us
You don't have to be a former world leader to take something away from this. Bush started painting in his 60s. He was bad at it. He did it anyway. He failed publicly. He kept going.
There's something incredibly human about a guy who was once the most powerful person on the planet sitting in a quiet room, frustrated that he can't get the shadow right on a nose. It’s a reminder that we are never "done" evolving.
How to see the work for yourself
If you're actually interested in the technical progression of paintings by George W. Bush, don't just look at low-res Google images.
- Visit the Bush Presidential Center: Located in Dallas, Texas, the library often has his original works on display. Seeing the texture of the oil paint in person is a completely different experience.
- Get the Books: Portraits of Courage and Out of Many, One contain high-quality reproductions and the stories behind the subjects. The stories actually add a lot of context to why he chose certain colors or compositions.
- Watch the Documentaries: There are several short films about his process where you can see him in the studio. He’s messy. He’s got paint on his hands. He looks... happy.
What’s next for the artist-in-chief?
Bush doesn't seem to be slowing down. He’s moved into a phase where he’s focusing on portraits of people who have influenced American history. It’s less about him now and more about the people he admires.
He’s still a student. That’s the most important takeaway. He still talks about "getting better." He still listens to his teachers. In a world where everyone wants to be an "expert" immediately, there’s something refreshing about a guy who is willing to be a beginner for the rest of his life.
If you want to understand the modern American presidency, you have to look at the policies. But if you want to understand the man who lived through it, you might actually want to look at his paintings. They tell a story that a memoir never could. They show the parts he can't quite put into words—the guilt, the pride, the boredom, and the strange, quiet beauty of a life after the storm.
To really appreciate this, your next step should be to look up the "Bathtub" and "Shower" paintings and compare them to his 2021 portrait of his father, George H.W. Bush. The difference in skill, emotional depth, and "soul" is staggering. It's the visual record of a man learning how to see the world—and himself—all over again. Look closely at the eyes in his portraits; he often says that's where he starts, because if you don't get the eyes right, you've lost the person. He isn't just painting skin; he's trying to find the spirit underneath, much like he spent eight years trying to do on the world stage, with varying degrees of success.