President George W. Bush has painted 16 new works of art commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the collection goes on display throughout September in Freedom Hall at his Dallas presidential museum. The pieces, part of a series titled Remembering 9/11, reflect on what the Bush Center describes as the courage, sacrifice, and resilience that emerged from one of the most defining moments in American history.
According to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, the 16-painting collection will be on view throughout September, with the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum open daily from 12 to 5 p.m. and adult admission priced at $26. The Remembering 9/11 exhibit runs from Sept. 1 through Sept. 30, according to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which notes the collection is included with standard museum admission and free for members. It marks the former president's sixth public art exhibition.
A Month of Anniversary Programming in Dallas
The paintings are just one piece of a broader slate of 25th-anniversary programming at the Bush Center. On Sept. 9, the center will host a sold-out public program called A Legacy of Service, featuring Bush in discussion with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, according to the Bush Center. That event will also be live-streamed online for those who could not secure tickets.
Two days later, on Sept. 11, Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush are scheduled to travel to Ground Zero in New York City and attend a memorial service at the U.S. Secret Service New York Field Office, per the Bush Center. The Secret Service field office was located at the World Trade Center complex during the 2001 attacks, tying the visit directly to the site where the towers once stood.
From Churchill Essay to Presidential Portraiture
Bush's painting career began in 2012, after he read Winston Churchill's 1932 essay Painting as a Pastime and started taking weekly art lessons, working first on simple still lifes before moving into portraiture, according to the Houston Chronicle. That hobby eventually produced two major themed collections: Portraits of Courage in 2017, which depicted 98 post-9/11 military veterans, and Out of Many, One in 2021, which showcased 43 American immigrants, per the Bush Center. Net proceeds from Bush's art books are donated to the Bush Institute.
Portraits of Courage remains on the road even now. The collection is currently on loan and on display through Dec. 31 at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, Ohio, an exhibition that includes 66 oil portraits and a four-panel mural, according to Ohio Magazine. Hoodline covered that Columbus opening earlier this month.
Permanent Artifacts Anchor the New Collection
The new paintings will hang not far from the museum's permanent 9/11 gallery, which already houses a 22-foot, twisted steel beam from the World Trade Center donated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, according to the George W. Bush Presidential Library. That beam stands near a memorial wall listing nearly 3,000 victim names. The museum also permanently displays the bullhorn Bush used at Ground Zero on Sept. 14, 2001, when he famously told first responders, “I can hear you,” per the library.
The Dallas exhibit arrives alongside similar national commemorations. The National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C. opened its own Remembering 9/11 exhibit, running from Aug. 25 through Oct. 28, drawing on government records from the immediate aftermath of the attacks, according to the National Archives Museum. Separately, the nationwide student contest America's Field Trip, tied to America's 250th anniversary, selected 250 students across the country for VIP educational trips or cash prizes, including visits to the Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, per America250.
It remains unclear which specific individuals or moments the 16 new canvases depict, and whether Bush plans a companion art book as he did with Portraits of Courage and Out of Many, One. For now, the works stand as the latest chapter in a post-presidential art practice that has consistently returned to subjects tied to his administration's defining decisions, from wounded veterans to the attacks that reshaped his presidency.
