George W. Bush’s Paintings of 9/11 Veterans Go on Show in Dallas

Former US president George W. Bush has created a series of 66 oil paintings depicting veterans of the September 11 attacks, titled Portraits of Courage. The works, which he began painting in 2009 after leaving office, were kept private until his sister Dorothy’s email was hacked in 2013. Bush, who previously painted cats and dogs, said he personally knew every subject and painted while thinking about their service and rehabilitation. The collection was published as a book and will also be turned into four murals. An exhibition of the portraits opens March 2, 2017, at the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas, running through October 2017. The library had previously shown Bush’s portraits of Vladimir Putin, the Dalai Lama, his father George H. W. Bush, and his dog Barney. The paintings are amateur in quality but carry personal and historical weight.