Painter-in-Chief: Dwight Eisenhower's Love of Painting

President Eisenhower at his easel, working on a portrait of two of his grandchildren.

Eisenhower Presidential Library

Dwight Eisenhower was many things in his professional life—an officer, a general, a university president, a political candidate, and President of the United States. But he was also a grandfather, a father, a husband, a son, a brother, someone who loved sports, who liked to read, and who was passionate about his many hobbies.

Dwight Eisenhower was also a painter. When Eisenhower wanted to relax or focus his mind, he turned to canvas and a paint brush, becoming one of several presidents to paint while occupying the Oval Office.

While some artists begin early on in life, “Ike”, as he was and is popularly known, did not take up painting until he was nearly 60 years old. It was his life experiences, as well as the influence of a few others, that led him to the hobby.

During the Second World War, Eisenhower worked closely with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, himself an avid painter. Churchill took up the pastime in 1915 during the First World War when his own political career was in a low moment due to the failed Gallipoli Campaign, of which he had been an architect. Through painting, Churchill found solace and an escape from his troubles. In later years, Churchill built a painting studio at his home, Chartwell, an idyllic setting which both housed and inspired his paintings. Altogether, Churchill made over 500 paintings in his lifetime.

Churchill viewed painting through a multifaced lens. In his essay “Painting as a Pastime,” Churchill described painting not only as “great fun,” but also as something that was intellectually engaging. He wrote that painting was “like trying to fight a battle.” It required a sense of purpose, “an intellect on a grand scale”, and an “all-embracing view which presents the beginning and the end, the whole and each part, as one instantaneous impression….”

During World War II, Eisenhower got to know Churchill during his time as Prime Minister, witnessing him at a painting easel on occasion. During those intense years, Churchill encouraged Ike to take up a hobby of some sort, believing, as he wrote elsewhere, that hobbies were crucial for those “who, over prolonged periods, have to bear exceptional responsibilities and discharge duties upon a very large scale.” Eisenhower witnessed Churchill’s balance and use of his own hobby firsthand, as he did with other generals and leaders of the Second World War. President Roosevelt, for example, was an avid stamp collector in the White House.

In the years following World War II, Eisenhower served as Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army, maintaining a stressful, high-profile role. In 1948, Ike left his lifetime of service to the army to enter a new world—higher education. He became the president of Columbia University.

It was that year, 1948, with decades of stress, the weight of a demanding schedule, and with the influence of Churchill in mind, that Eisenhower took up painting. The final catalyst for him putting paint to canvas was another artist, though not the British Prime Minister. It was Thomas Stephens, a Welsh-born painter who came to the United States in the 1920s. Stephens painted many leading figures of the era, including George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, and Winston Churchill (he painted Churchill at Eisenhower’s request). Today, Stephens’s works are displayed at the White House, the National Gallery of Art, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Pentagon, the U.S. military academies at West Point and Annapolis, as well as numerous museums, universities, and embassies. Several of his works are on display here at Eisenhower National Historic Site, hanging in the Eisenhower home. He was one of the great portrait artists of the 20^th century.

In 1948, Stephens came to the Eisenhower home at 60 Morningside Drive in New York to paint a portrait of Mamie Eisenhower.

Once Stephens was finished, he and Mamie left the room to find a place to hang the new painting. Eisenhower, left alone, got an idea. With the assistance of his aide, Sergeant John Moaney, Ike fashioned a new, blank canvas. In his moment of inspiration, Ike took Stephens’s paints and began to paint his own version of Stephens’s portrait of Mamie. When Stephens and Mamie returned, they were amused and intrigued by Ike’s efforts, laughing along with the former general himself. Stephens turned to Eisenhower and suggested, quite seriously, “you ought to take up painting.”

Stephens nudged the general along by sending him his own paint set a few days later.

Soon, Eisenhower embarked on his new hobby. He found it invigorating, relaxing, and enjoyable, all at once. Unlike golf, Eisenhower was not consumed with anger or frustration at a mistake on the canvas. While he still loved golf and being outdoors, painting was a quiet, rainy-day pursuit, one which could be done more freely and without leaving the home.

A landscape scene painted by General Eisenhower showing his Gettysburg farm, complete with his own putting green in the foreground.

Eisenhower National Historic Site

In 1951, Eisenhower left Columbia behind, stepping back into public service to become Supreme Commander of NATO forces. This new role took Ike back to France. He and Mamie lived in Paris, where Ike kept up his new hobby of painting amidst some of the finest art and culture of Europe. Among his works while at NATO was a portrait of Bernard Montgomery, the British representative to NATO and a former Field Marshall who served under Ike in World War II.

After one year, Eisenhower left Paris and returned to the United States, where he embarked on his run for president in 1952. He had little time for painting while on the campaign trail, though on November 4, 1952—the day he was elected president—Eisenhower spent time painting at his home in New York.

In the White House, Ike kept on creating. A studio and easel were set up on the second floor of the White House, with strict privacy required. Eisenhower wanted freedom to make mistakes, to create something out of the public eye without worry over how it would be received. Unlike golf, painting didn’t require a driver, a car, any security, or arouse any press. It could be done in his own time, according to his own wishes. Indeed, it was one of the few things Eisenhower could still do as president in the same way he would as a private citizen.

With the weight of the world on his shoulders as president—navigating the Cold War while ensuring the United States continued to grow in peace and prosperity amidst challenges both at home and abroad—Eisenhower yearned for a way to relax his mind. For the president, painting was not a way to express a world view, or a way to provide commentary. As he told a reporter in 1967, “There is nothing philosophical about my interest in painting. Rather it is the best way in the world to relax. You put the surface of your mind on the canvas while the rest of your mind is making decisions.”

After leaving Washington, Eisenhower kept up his painting hobby. At his Gettysburg home, the sun porch was his favorite spot to paint. He could set up his easel, enjoy the natural sun light, look out toward the Gettysburg battlefield, and be at ease in his own home. During decades of nomadic public service, Ike and Mamie dreamed of such a simple and cozy environment. Now in retirement, it was finally a reality.

While Eisenhower always maintained that painting was a hobby of relaxation, it still did reflect certain truths about him. Pat Nixon, wife of Eisenhower’s Vice President Richard Nixon, said as much about Ike when describing his paintings:

“His love of painting and the works this talent created significantly reveal the diversity, depth and scope of his great personality. While his outstanding careers as a general and a president and his dedicated devotion to his country and to his fellow man are now permanently registered in the annual of history and a proud part of our national heritage, the warm and human aspects are reflected in his paintings his love of nature, his quiet but firmly rooted religious belief and his response to the beauty and mystery of life. He has left a rich legacy of inspiration and example for all mankind through his active life of service, his written and spoken words of wisdom, and through his works of art.”

In many ways, the things that Eisenhower was in his private life shaped who he was in his public life. His family strengthened him as a leader. His love of reading made him well informed in making decisions as president. His passion for golf helped him stay active. This was true as well for his love of painting. By putting brush to canvas in his private life, Eisenhower found a way to handle his stress, relax his mind, and be a better version of himself. Whether he saw painting as a fun exercise akin to fighting a battle, or simply a form of relaxation, Ike clearly benefited from his time at the easel, making painting an indispensable part of who he was as a leader and a man.