Art of George Rodrigue

10/17/2026

In 2003, George Rodrigue painted LSU’s Mike the Tiger reclining in one of the artist’s signature Louisiana landscapes. Prints of the image originally raised enough funds to complete construction of the tiger’s world-class new habitat on the campus of LSU.

Learn more and purchase online:
https://shop.georgerodrigue.com/products/mike-the-tiger

10/16/2026

Discover the original mixed media, "Metal 5_13" a striking piece by George Rodrigue from 2013 (private collection). This 48 x 32-inch remastered digital print with acrylic paint on Dibond aluminum is our featured Catalogue Raisonné work of the week.

If you own a unique George Rodrigue artwork, the Rodrigue family invites you to share details for inclusion in the comprehensive catalogue raisonné documenting his life’s work.

For submission guidelines and more information, visit https://georgerodrigue.com/catalogue-raisonne/ or reach out at [email protected]

10/15/2026

💙 🏆

Throwback to May 28, 2026 — the night “Blue – The Life and Art of George Rodrigue” won the 2026 News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Regional Documentary at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.

This national honor celebrates George’s remarkable story of resilience: from teaching himself to paint while bedridden with polio as a child, to documenting and preserving Cajun culture, responding to Hurricane Katrina, and transforming a mysterious loup-garou into the world-famous Blue Dog that captured imaginations everywhere.

Haven’t watched the Emmy-winning film yet? There’s still time! Stream “Blue” now on PBS Passport through your local PBS station.

Full details, awards, and how to watch:

https://georgerodrigue.com/blog/documentary-film/

Share your favorite moment from the film or a favorite Blue Dog memory below. 💙

10/14/2026

Originally created in 1996 for George Rodrigue's landmark Blue Dog for President exhibition at Union Station in Washington, D.C., Stars and Stripes and Me represents one of the clearest expressions of the artist's lifelong exploration of patriotism, identity, and American culture.

Although many associate George Rodrigue's patriotic imagery with the Blue Dog, his fascination with the American flag began decades earlier in his celebrated Cajun paintings. Here, those two defining themes come together as the Blue Dog stands before a field of stars and stripes—a powerful reminder that America's greatest strength lies in the many regional stories and traditions that shape our shared identity.

As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, this image remains as meaningful today as when it was first created nearly thirty years ago.

Stars and Stripes and Me
Original Silkscreen by George Rodrigue
Designed 1996 • Printed 2026
26½ × 21 inches (image size)
Estate Edition of 150
Available now at Rodrigue Studios and online: https://shop.georgerodrigue.com/products/stars-and-stripes-and-me

10/13/2026

When George Rodrigue began incorporating people into his landscape paintings in the early 1970s, he often painted historical scenes showing how Cajuns made a home for themselves in America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This painting, Early Military Cadre, speaks to the role military service plays in establishing national identity.

The figures in this painting wear white uniforms; Rodrigue often painted his Cajun figures in white clothing, using the color to symbolize hope for their future in Louisiana. The composition of this painting takes a slight deviation from Rodrigue’s typical oak tree anchored landscape backgrounds. Here, a structure, perhaps a military barracks, grounds the image, creating a visual path to the painting’s light source—a glowing white light in the landscape’s distance.

Early Military Cadre
1982
Oil on canvas
30 x 40 in.
Newly available and on display at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans
Inquiries: [email protected]

10/12/2026

Hoppy Poppy
1994
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 24 inches
Available and on display at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans
Inquiries: [email protected]

George Rodrigue painted Hoppy Poppy during a period in his career when he began to conceive of the Blue Dog in new ways. During the mid-to-late 1990s, Rodrigue painted several canvases that humanized the Blue Dog, specifically representing the dog as a man. This style of work was heavily featured in the 1999 book Blue Dog Man, which explores how the artist and his creation evolved in tandem.

Hoppy Poppy demonstrates how Rodrigue often depicted the humanization of the Blue Dog through clothes like the shirt, tie, and sports coat the dog wears in the painting. This masculine depiction of the Blue Dog is complemented by the yellow poppies Rodrigue has painted along the green background of the canvas. As with many of Rodrigue’s Blue Dog paintings, part of Hoppy Poppy’s charm is the unanswerable questions it poses to viewers.

10/11/2026

Monumental Blue Dog still on view on Royal Street 💙🇺🇸

Back in August, Jacques Rodrigue and gallery associate Douglas displayed one of George Rodrigue’s largest works from the balcony of our flagship gallery at 730 Royal Street. The piece is a 14-foot-high by 8-foot-wide acrylic-on-vinyl banner from the 1996 Blue Dog for President series, originally created for the exhibition at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

Painted in a warehouse because of its massive scale, this banner shows the Blue Dog against a black background wearing a red necktie patterned with white stars — a clear reference to presidential campaign imagery and the American flag. With bold, visible brushstrokes, Rodrigue turned the Cajun loup-garou into a powerful American graphic symbol.

Two of these historic banners from the Don Sanders collection are still available — the largest Rodrigue paintings ever to come to market. In honor of America’s 250th anniversary, they’re on display now at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans.

Untitled, Blue Dog with Tie (Blue Dog For President Banner)
1996 | Acrylic on vinyl | 168 × 96 in. (14 × 8 ft.)
Available and on display at Rodrigue Studios

Inquiries: [email protected]

Come experience these monumental works in person.

10/10/2026

This newly released estate edition is based on Rodrigue’s 1994 painting Gettin’ Back to Nature. In the Cajun paintings of the 1970s and 1980s, Rodrigue set figures into the Louisiana landscape as if they had been cut out and pasted there—flat, frontal, and locked against dark oaks and a compressed sky. That device was meant to picture Acadian history: families who left France for Nova Scotia, were expelled in the Grand Dérangement, and finally settled under the oaks of south Louisiana. He used the same principle for the Blue Dog.

Here the dog fills the height of the picture and sits off-center, while the oak’s branches divide the blue sky into distinct shapes. Placing the Blue Dog in that Acadiana setting draws a line from the earlier Cajun figures through the Blue Dog series of the 1990s.

Gettin' Back to Nature
1994/2026
Silkscreen on paper
12 x 16 inches (image)
Edition of 175 (sold unframed)
Available at Rodrigue Studios and online:

This estate released edition is based on Rodrigue’s 1994 painting Gettin’ Back to Nature. In the Cajun paintings of the 1970s and 1980s, Rodrigue set figures into the Louisiana landscape as if they had been cut out and pasted there—flat, frontal, and locked against dark oaks and a compressed s...

10/09/2026

Discover the original painting, "Blue Dog with Yellow Heaven" a striking piece by George Rodrigue from 1991 (private collection). This 30 x 24-inch oil on linen is our featured Catalogue Raisonné work of the week.

If you own a unique George Rodrigue artwork, the Rodrigue family invites you to share details for inclusion in the comprehensive catalogue raisonné documenting his life’s work.

For submission guidelines and more information, visit https://georgerodrigue.com/catalogue-raisonne/ or reach out at [email protected]

10/08/2026

| Two Gulf South Visionaries: Walter Anderson & George Rodrigue

What do Walter Anderson and George Rodrigue have in common? More than you might expect.

Working a generation apart, both artists drew inspiration from the landscapes, folklore, and cultural traditions of the Gulf South, transforming regional subjects into distinctly American works of art.

Yet their contributions to American art history have not always received the recognition they deserve. Anderson’s artistic achievements are often overshadowed by his unconventional life, while Rodrigue’s remarkable success with the Blue Dog can obscure the significance of his earlier Cajun paintings.

A new essay explores the fascinating parallels between these two artists, their places within the tradition of American Regionalism, and why their work deserves a broader place in the American art historical canon.

The conversation comes to life at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where The Bayou Collection by George Rodrigue is on view through January 9, 2027.

Read the full essay, “Two Gulf South Visionaries in Conversation”:
https://georgerodrigue.com/blog/two-gulf-south-visionaries-in-conversation-george-rodrigues-bayou-collection-at-the-walter-anderson-museum-of-art/

📷 Left: Walter Anderson, c. 1930 | Right: George Rodrigue, c. 1969