62. George W. Bush Bathtub Painting
- Rainey Knudson
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
When he was in office, George W. Bush was ridiculed for his verbal gaffes. But there are different types of intelligence, and language, it seems, was the wrong measuring stick for him. His post-presidential paintings suggest different strengths entirely.
After leaving office, Bush worked to expand his visual intelligence as a painter. He wrote, “Before long, I started to see the world differently. Shadows became colors. Once-clear skies had subtle shifts of color. I was getting comfortable with the concepts of values and tones.”
The painting that first revealed this hidden interior life was never meant to be seen. In 2013, a hacker named Guccifer released an intimate self-portrait of a Bush-eye view of his feet in the bathtub. Critics had a field day—especially over something painted by a president who led the country into a catastrophic foreign war.
But there’s something familiar about the painting. Where do we separate the art from the artist? What’s the shelf life for lived catastrophe, and who deserves to be understood as more than their worst decisions?
Bush went on to paint world leaders and veterans, a far more challenging subject than pets and Texas hillsides. His veterans series—whatever its politics—represents a striking improvement in painterly skill. Peter Schjeldahl was excoriated for praising the “astonishingly high” quality of Bush’s “painted atonements.”
In a 2017 interview, Bush said, “I’m just a sensitive artist these days, not a government official, but I would say that education of the arts is really important.”[1]
Special thanks to Christina Rees for suggesting the George W. Bush bathtub painting.
Links:
“George W. Bush’s Painted Atonements” – Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, March 3, 2017
“Bush: My Painting of Myself in the Bathtub Was Meant to 'Shock'” - Paige Lavender, Huffpost, April 3, 2014
“Bush Nostalgia Is Overrated, but His Book of Paintings Is Not” – Jonathan Alter, The New York Times, April 17, 2017
“I Don’t Care How Good His Paintings Are, He Still Belongs In Prison” – Nathan J. Robinson, Current Affairs, April 19, 2017
Jimmy Carter Paintings - Smithsonian Magazine
This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.
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