In a gallery just steps from the White House, the American dream takes on a human face. Hanging on the walls of the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream are 43 striking oil portraits — each one painted by former President George W. Bush, each one telling a story of courage, perseverance and hope.
Out of Many, One
The free exhibition, Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants, celebrates the people who have come from across the globe to build new lives in the United States. The exhibit, which began in 2021, is on loan from the George W. Bush Presidential Center and will be displayed at the Milken Center through January 1, 2026.
The subjects’ faces — rendered in vivid color and expressive detail — reflect their journeys and America’s collective identity. Viewers are introduced to the images and stories of people who traveled from faraway places to start new lives in the United States.
“My message is, let’s look at each immigrant here in the country and honor them as a child of God,” Bush told NBCDFW in Dallas when he first displayed the paintings in 2021. “Let’s recognize the powerful influence that the newly arrived can have on our soul.”
The exhibit’s title, Out of Many, One, draws inspiration from ‘E pluribus unum’ (Latin for “Out of many, one”), the motto on the Great Seal of the United States. It’s a phrase that captures the essence of the American experiment — that we are a country built by many, unified as one.
43 By 43
Through the 43 portraits, Bush invites viewers to reflect on what that phrase means in a nation that continues to wrestle with the challenges of immigration.
Each of the paintings is accompanied by a story — of a refugee who became a doctor, an entrepreneur who built a thriving business or a student who found freedom through education. One portrait on display is of former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who emigrated from Czechoslovakia as a refugee at age 11. The quote from Albright accompanying her portrait says: “I believe in the goodness of America and of our capability to help people in other countries.”
From the 43rd President’s years in the Oval Office (he signs each of the 43 portraits with “43”), he brings a deeply personal understanding of the people behind policy debates — people he met, admired and now honors on canvas.
A companion hardcover book of the same name, featuring Bush’s portraits and the stories behind them, is also available at the Milken Center, at retail booksellers, and online. Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream: 1503 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC
Feature image courtesy C.A. Smith Photography for President George W. Bush
