Art of George Rodrigue

09/02/2026

From his earliest depictions of the Louisiana landscape, George Rodrigue took a specific approach to composition. He painted each element in his works as if it could only fit in one place on the canvas, like a puzzle piece. Moving one element would disrupt the visual flow of the entire painting. The resulting works are compositionally strong paintings like Sister-In-Law where Rodrigue anchors two blue dogs against a color-blocked background.

Rodrigue added a series of pink flowers across the upper half of the painting, evoking the blue dog’s visual connections to pop art and adding dimension to the painting’s hard-edge composition. The flowers also speak to the artist’s new working environment. Rodrigue painted Sister-In-Law a year after he purchased a home in Carmel, California and the same year that he finished building out a dedicated artist studio on the property. The roses, hollyhocks, and hummingbird flowers that bloomed just outside that studio helped to inspire the depictions of flowers in Rodrigue’s paintings.

Sister-In-Law
2001
Acrylic on linen
20 x 16 inches
Available and on display at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans
Inquiries: [email protected]

09/01/2026

Celebrating the opening of The Bayou Collection at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art Walter Anderson Museum of Art

40 of George Rodrigue’s early bayou paintings (1981–1984), including Watch Dog — the first Blue Dog.

Jacques Rodrigue was there to share the evening with everyone.

On view through January 9.
🐊💙

08/31/2026

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 (sold unframed)
Available now at Rodrigue Studios and online:

Featured in the landmark 1996 Blue Dog for President exhibition at Union Station in Washington, D.C., this painting unites George Rodrigue’s lifelong exploration of patriotism, identity, and American culture. By the time George Rodrigue created Stars and Stripes and Me in 1996, the Blue Dog had ev...

08/30/2026

The spiral motif that appears in Before the Hour of Dawn Approaches, a blue dog landscape painting, connects to George Rodrigue’s early depictions of Cajuns and the Louisiana landscape. In those early paintings, Rodrigue balanced his use of dark colors to represent the oak-tree-dominant South Louisiana landscape with lighter shades of blue and white, often in the distance, meant to represent the hope newly arrived Cajuns had for their future in Louisiana.

Occasionally, Rodrigue painted those lighter colors as a swirl or spiral in his work. This motif appears in paintings Rodrigue created throughout his career, most notably, the series of swirling round paintings created in the early 2000s meant to capture the energy of hurricanes. In Before the Hour of Dawn Approaches, Rodrigue paints the spiral in shades of pink and purple—colors that might appear in the sky just before sunrise—with the spiral adding to the painting’s impressionistic rendering of the landscape.

Before The Hour of Dawn Approaches
1992
Oil on linen
11 x 14 inches
Newly available and on display at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans.
Inquiries: [email protected]

08/28/2026

Discover "The Composers" a striking piece by George Rodrigue from 1985 (private collection). This 40 x 30-inch oil on canvas 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]

08/27/2026

George Rodrigue with the Blue Dog Hog, New York City, 1994

Originally displayed in a New York City gallery called Time is Always Now, the bike served as an eye-catching showpiece drawing visitors into the gallery to take a closer look at this unique work of art.

After years of being held in a private collection the bike has returned to Rodrigue’s New Orleans gallery where it’s proven to be just as popular of an attraction as it has been in the past.
Rodrigue began incorporating motorcycles into his paintings in the late 1980s. In his work the motorcycle can be understood as a symbol of travel, freedom, and connecting with the land. The Blue Dog Hog features six of Rodrigue’s iconic Blue Dogs, as well as two Red Dogs flanking the tank’s center console, and oak trees dripping with Spanish moss along the back fender. It is signed on both sides of the tank. Though it might be tempting for a rider to think about taking the motorcycle out on the road, Rodrigue thought of the bike as more of a sculpture than a means of transportation.

Blue Dog Hog
1994
Acrylic paint on a Harley Davidson Falstaff Fat Boy Motorcycle
4' x 8' x 32"
Available and on display at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans
Inquiries: [email protected]

08/26/2026

Pushin' Up Posies
1996
Silkscreen on paper
23 x 16 inches
Signed lower left: Hand signed
AP edition (sold framed)
Inquiries: [email protected]

By the mid-1990s, George Rodrigue transitioned from using two shades of blue in his silkscreen prints to four. This increase in shades of blue allowed for more layers and texture in his silkscreen depictions of the blue dog. Created in 1996, Pushin Up Posies is one of Rodrigue’s prints in which the blue dog is depicted using a four-color process. Rodrigue positions the four color blue dog amongst a cluster of red posie flowers. He’s given the flowers yellow interior details which complement the blue dog’s yellow eyes. Additionally, the flowers evoke a landscape, a common setting for Rodrigue’s work.

08/25/2026

In Loving Tribute to Dolly Parton: Islands in the Stream

Today, Rodrigue Studios shares George Rodrigue’s Islands in the Stream (2000) in tribute to Dolly Parton, who passed away on August 25, 2026, at age 80.

The Blue Dog and slightly smaller Red Dog navigate a powerful, colorful stream. Inspired by the classic love song written by the Bee Gees and made famous by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, the painting appears in the 2001 book Blue Dog Love with the caption: “two wandering hearts find each other and become one.” The Red Dog often symbolized love when paired with the Blue Dog.

The Blue Dog’s soulful yellow eyes, full of longing and quiet searching, echo the emotional depth of Dolly’s music—songs of enduring love and connection like “Islands in the Stream” and “I Will Always Love You.” Dolly's deep Southern roots and Louisiana ties—from early recordings in Lake Charles to Steel Magnolias filmed in Natchitoches—further resonate with the cultural landscape Rodrigue celebrated.

From all of us at Rodrigue Studios, thank you, Dolly. Your voice and spirit will always sail with us.

Pictured, Islands in the Stream, 2000, Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 inches, NFS

08/24/2026

Kiss Me, I’m Cajun.

In 1979, George painted his four-year-old son André after his first fishing trip — cane pole in one hand, catch in the other, leaning against a young oak in that now-famous t-shirt.

George found the shirt at a flea market in Houston. At the time, Cajun culture was still little known outside South Louisiana. That shirt felt like a sign: the rest of the country might finally learn who we are.

George later wrote:

“André in his t-shirt typifies the contemporary Cajun. But at four years of age, he does not yet know that the whole world does not have boudin, crawfish, gumbo, and Mardi Gras parades.”

The painting became the cover of the Junior League of Lafayette’s Talk About Good II cookbook and remains one of the most beloved images from his Cajun series.

This estate silkscreen (designed 1979, printed 2014, 26 x 20 inches) is available now: https://shop.georgerodrigue.com/products/kiss-me-i-m-cajun

08/23/2026

George Rodrigue fondly recalled his childhood visits to the Mississippi Gulf Coast with his parents in the 1950s. It wasn’t until he was an art student at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles that he experienced the vastly different California coastline, later opening his Galerie Blue Dog in Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1991. The beach and coastlines of Florida, California and Hawaii all appear in the limited number of Rodrigue’s beach-themed works.

One of his most popular and well-known images is Hawaiian Blues (1998), created for the cover of the Neiman Marcus catalogue on the occasion of opening a new store in Honolulu, Hawaii. That painting, which depicts the Blue Dog with a lei of butterflies around his neck against a backdrop of the Hawaiian coastline is also one of the few images with palm trees. Those palm trees are highly reminiscent of those depicted in Blue Dog, Blue Sea, although this image does not represent a specific beach.

Based on a painting done in 1995, Blue Dog, Blue Sea is a stone lithograph printed on high-grade rag paper by artisans still producing works in the traditional manner; the colors are rich and varied with an appearance that resembles oil and chalk rather than ink.

Blue Dog, Blue Sea
1995/2022
24 x 24 inches
Stone lithograph, printed in Paris, France
Estate Stamped Edition of 225
Available at Rodrigue Studios and online: https://shop.georgerodrigue.com/products/blue-dog-blue-sea