George W. Bush shows 9/11 paintings in Dallas exhibit

George W. Bush is displaying 16 paintings inspired by the September 11, 2001 attacks at the Bush Presidential Library in Dallas, using art to revisit the events that defined his presidency.

The exhibit includes a painting of lower Manhattan under gray smoke after the Twin Towers collapsed, as well as scenes showing Bush being told that a second plane had struck the World Trade Center and taking the hand of his father, former president George H.W. Bush.

The former president, now 80, took up painting a few years after leaving office in 2009. His previous special collections have included portraits of veterans of the wars that followed 9/11 and portraits of American immigrants.

Bush appears in half of the paintings. The American flag recurs across the series, including in works depicting the Pentagon attack and first responders.

The September 11 attacks killed an official total of 2,977 people. Thousands more deaths have since been linked to 9/11-related illnesses. Two hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center in New York, a third struck the Pentagon near Washington and a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers stormed the cockpit.