A self-portrait by former President George W. Bush is part of an exhibit of his paintings, “The Art of Leadership: A President’s Personal Diplomacy,” at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. The show runs through June 3.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. “What’s interesting about them is less that they’re representational pictures of these people, because a photograph would do just fine,” Stephen J. Hadley, who was Mr. Bush’s national security adviser. “But in the way he’s painted them, it tells you about his relationships with them.”
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. Of all the leaders he painted, Mr. Bush was probably closest to Mr. Blair, despite their ideological differences.
A painting of John Howard, who was the prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. Mr. Bush started painting two years ago after the Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis suggested he read an essay by Winston Churchill, “Painting as a Pastime.”
Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. Mr. Bush once took him to visit Graceland.
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. Alongside many of the portraits in the exhibit are photographs of the subjects with Mr. Bush, as well as some mementos of their interactions.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel.
A detail of Mr. Bush’s portrait of his father, former President George Bush. “I watched one of the best at personal diplomacy in my dad,” his son said. “He was amazing about befriending people where there may not be common interests, and I emulated that.”
