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George Rodrigue

1944-2013. Born and raised in southwest Louisiana, “Cajun Country,” George Rodrigue preserved on his canvas what he feared was his dying heritage — including its land, people, traditions and mythology. It was a Cajun legend, the loup-garou, that spawned his most famous series,

The Blue Dog.

Read about George Rodrigue

George Rodrigue in Studio

“I grew up feeling a strong relationship to the old things, to the old culture, and I got a stronger feeling when I went to Los Angeles to school. I really started to understand how different I was and how different my Louisiana was.”

George Rodrigue Biography

George Rodrigue Timelne

George Rodrigue Today

Available Work

Original Paintings by George Rodrigue

Original Paintings

Original Paintings by George Rodrigue

Original Paintings

Signed Silkscreens by George Rodrigue

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Estate Stamped Prints by George Rodrigue

Estate Stamped Prints

Jewelry by George Rodrigue

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Rare Editions by George Rodrigue

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George Rodrigue Exhibitions

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NEW PRINT RELEASE: BLUE DOG, BLUE SEA

Blue Dog, Blue Sea, designed in 1995 by George Rodrigue, is a newly released print in 2022. This Estate Edition of 225 measures 24 x 24 inches and is available for purchase from Rodrigue Studios or online. George Rodrigue fondly recalled his childhood visits to the Mississippi Gulf Coast with […]

I’ve always approached painting knowing that my job is not to make an accurate representation of a subject–

IT’S GOT TO TRANSCEND THAT.

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As a colorist, George Rodrigue emphasized the ...

Jun 24

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As a colorist, George Rodrigue emphasized the diff

As a colorist, George Rodrigue emphasized the differences in hues between his paintings.

“You can’t take a Blue Dog from one painting and switch it with one from another,” he explained. “The color changes according to whatever other color is alongside it.”

During the early 2000s, just prior to his loose and spontaneous explosion of Hurricanes, Rodrigue focused on tight, controlled studies of color and design, often on custom-stretched round canvases, such as the paintings Roulette, Wheel of Fortune, and ‘Round the Mulberry Bush. In some cases, Rodrigue mounted motors to these round canvases, allowing the paintings to turn slowly by remote control.

“My paintings are like puzzles,” he often said. “Once the puzzle is complete, then the painting is finished.”

Roulette
2002
Acrylic on canvas
36 inch diameter
Newly reframed, available and on display at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans. Contact us at link in bio to learn more.

George Rodrigue fondly recalled his childhood ...

Jun 21

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George Rodrigue fondly recalled his childhood visi

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. As Rodrigue explained the process, “Each person involved in the process specialized in a different field including separating the colors, etching the stone, and hand-printing the colors individually, layered one on top of the other, creating a continuous tone image similar to an original painting.”

Blue Dog, Blue Sea
1995/2022
24 x 24 inches
Stone lithograph, printed in Paris, France
Estate Stamped Edition of 225 (sold unframed)
Available online at link in bio

"When designing 'Hawaiian Blues,' I...

Jun 17

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"When designing 'Hawaiian Blues,' I kept my 94-yea

"When designing 'Hawaiian Blues,' I kept my 94-year old mother occupied for two days by asking her to cut out pictures of butterflies, which I then pasted all over a sketch. In the final painting, the butterflies appear to be pasted on an old Hawaiian postcard---just as the Blue Dog appears to be pasted onto every situation." - G.R.

Pictured: "Hawaiian Blues" 1999 by George Rodrigue, 36x63 inches, acrylic on canvas. A small number of prints, all Artist Proofs signed by Rodrigue, are available. Contact us at link in bio to learn more.

“As I grow older, my mind expands. I suspend ...

Jun 16

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“As I grow older, my mind expands. I suspend rea

“As I grow older, my mind expands. I suspend reality on my canvas with greater confidence, exploring not just the trees and grass, but also the mysterious and the mystical.” - George Rodrigue, 2012

SAINTS ON THE BAYOU
Designed by George Rodrigue
2009/2015
22×40 inches
Estate Stamped Edition of 250
Available by contacting us at link in bio

“'Looking for a Beach House' is the ...

Jun 13

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“'Looking for a Beach House' is the first print

“'Looking for a Beach House' is the first print I’ve created for the gallery that’s truly an original lithograph made from 22 plates, printed on stone, in the same way prints were made from the beginning using copper plates or stone by artists like Rembrandt, Chagall and Dali.” – George Rodrigue, 2013.

For pricing and availability contact Rodrigue Studios at link in bio

When George Rodrigue returned from art school in ...

Jun 12

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When George Rodrigue returned from art school in L

When George Rodrigue returned from art school in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, some of his earliest paintings were of the shrimp boats in Delcambre, Louisiana. Executed mostly in watercolors, these few incredible works from 1968-1970 have for the most part been overshadowed by his landscapes and later the Blue Dog paintings. The whereabouts of only a handful are known, and continue to be in private collections. It is extremely rare for one to come to market, and Rodrigue Studio is delighted to have this outstanding well-documented work now available.

As Rodrigue recalled about his youth and memories of the shrimp boats: “Anytime my mama cooked shrimp, we didn’t just visit the grocery store, instead we rode thirty minutes from New Iberia to the boats at Delcambre. At the time, there were three or four processing plants right on the docks, including the Dooleys, friends of our family. My mother refused to buy frozen shrimp. It had to be fresh, straight off of the boat. When I returned from California in 1967 and decided to paint Louisiana, my first idea was to paint the shrimp boats. I photographed the docked boats at Delcambre. There were hundreds of them.”

Docks in Delcambre
1968
Watercolor on paper
20 x 24 inches
Newly available and on display at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans. Contact us to learn more at link in bio

Rodrigue had an admiration and fascination with ...

Jun 10

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Rodrigue had an admiration and fascination with tr

Rodrigue had an admiration and fascination with trains his entire life. In a small series of works in 2010, he combined this love of the shiny locomotives with his iconic Blue Dog. As he had done earlier in his Bodies series, and Swamp Dog series, Rodrigue was experimenting with photography and printmaking, using his computer to combine the painted images with color and repetitive designs. Using the scanned images from his computer, he combined the painted images with photographs, creating what he described as ‘remastered digital prints’. He released a total of four prints in this series featuring trains and the Blue Dog, all in the small edition of 10, and a very limited number of Artist Proofs.

ALL ABOARD
2010
Remastered digital print on paper, ed. of 10
Hand-signed, Artist Proof
24 x 30 inches
Newly available at Rodrigue Studios. Learn more by contacting us at link in bio

George Rodrigue visited the beach for the first ...

Jun 9

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George Rodrigue visited the beach for the first ti

George Rodrigue visited the beach for the first time in the summer of 1957 in Biloxi, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where he and his family spent a great deal of time when he was young. This silkscreen expands on Rodrigue’s memories of family trips to the Florida and Mississippi Gulf Coast. Sit in Your Own Chair highlights a row of brightly colored Adirondack chairs, each one most likely assigned to a particular family member, (as designated by the matching dog) for which he or she was responsible for set up and removal.

As legend has it, the Adirondack chair originated in 1903 in New York State’s Adirondack forest preserve. It was first conceived by Thomas Lee, a man wanting to construct a truly comfortable lawn chair to furnish his summer home. But, this chair with its signature slanted back, wide armrests and low-to-the ground seating, has made it a very popular chair for the beach.

SIT IN YOUR OWN CHAIR
2013
An Original Silkscreen by George Rodrigue
Numbered Edition of 275
#112-275 Official Rodrigue Estate Stamp
21×38 inches (sold unframed)
Available at Rodrigue Studios at link in bio

George Rodrigue and political news correspondent ...

Jun 8

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George Rodrigue and political news correspondent K

George Rodrigue and political news correspondent Ken Bode forged a friendship that lasted decades. We were saddened to hear about this week's passing of Bode, as George and many others fondly referred to him.

We pay tribute to these great friends by sharing NBC's Today Show segment from 1988 in which these icons tour us around South Louisiana's Cajun country.

George Rodrigue did not ride motorcycles. However,...

Jun 7

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George Rodrigue did not ride motorcycles. However,

George Rodrigue did not ride motorcycles. However, he definitely felt a connection to the motorcyle as a symbol of freedom in Americana imagery.

Easy Riders, 2002, Original silkscreen signed by George Rodrigue, 25x50 inches, Edition 25. Learn more by contacting us at link in bio

"The brave young men rode onto the beaches ...

Jun 6

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"The brave young men rode onto the beaches and int

"The brave young men rode onto the beaches and into battle on Higgins Boats, built in New Orleans by Andrew Higgins, the man Eisenhower said, 'won the war for us.'" -Stephen Ambrose

Yet these two American giants of World War II never met. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) eventually became President of the United States (1953-1961); however, it was a decade before, in his role as a 5-star general in the United States Army and finally Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, that solidified his status as a hero, leading the United States and its allies to victory in Europe during World War II.

Meanwhile, Andrew Higgins (1886-1952) lived and worked in New Orleans, where he built many types of boats and barges but, most famously, designed the Landing Craft Personnel, Large (LCPL), the boats that transported allied troops to the Normandy beaches on D-Day.

Famous throughout the world for his Blue Dog paintings and scenes of rural life in southern Louisiana, George Rodrigue brought to life a meeting of two of the men who played major roles in winning the war for the Allies, though had never actually met in real life. (Pictured in his Carmel, CA, studio in 2011)

Prints of this work are available to benefit the National World War II Museum at link in bio.

George Rodrigue’s early landscape and Cajun ...

Jun 5

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George Rodrigue’s early landscape and Cajun seri

George Rodrigue’s early landscape and Cajun series paintings are a snapshot of a bygone era, a portrait of the Cajun culture that existed at the turn of the century in southwest Louisiana. Rodrigue continued to paint these subjects for the next forty years, but no matter the year, he always adhered to the basic rules he established for himself in the late 1960s.

Rejecting the spacious sky of traditional European paintings, Rodrigue pushed the large Louisiana oak to the forefront of his canvas, cropping the top of the tree so that the light shines in the distance underneath the moss-covered branches.

With its hard edge and strong shape, his oak tree stands as a symbol for both Rodrigue’s state and his culture. In most cases, he rejected specific locales, rather painting with a sense of mystery regarding time, place and meaning. While we can assume Boudreaux is inside the horse-drawn carriage on his way to see his love, we can only speculate on the romance that awaits him.

Boudreaux Goes Courtin’
1993
Oil on canvas
24 x 30 inches
Available and on display at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans. Learn more by contacting us at link in bio

Entertaining and Activations at Rodrigue Studios ...

Jun 3

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Entertaining and Activations at Rodrigue Studios N

Entertaining and Activations at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans!

Host your event or activation in one of the most historic buildings in the French Quarter, adjacent to the St. Louis Cathedral with second floor, wrap-around balcony and views of both Royal Street and St. Louis Cathedral's Botanical Gardens.

Our two-story, multi-use venue features artwork by Louisiana native and world-renowned artist, George Rodrigue, or the upper level can be a "white box" custom show space.

One of the "most New Orleans" venues in the heart of the French Quarter is perfect for cocktail receptions, wedding related events, corporate meetings, retail activations, and popups.

Located in close proximity to many of the city’s best restaurants, bars (Bourbon Street), and live music venues.

Learn more and download our Guide to Entertaining here at the link in bio

George Rodrigue painted Three Coins in the ...

Jun 1

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George Rodrigue painted Three Coins in the Fountai

George Rodrigue painted Three Coins in the Fountain in the summer of 2003 in his Carmel, CA, home following a trip to Italy. The triptych was inspired by the 1954 romantic comedy, which featured the three stars of the film each throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Frank Sinatra famously sang the title song for the film with the lyrics:

"Three coins in the fountain, each one seeking happiness. Thrown by three hopeful lovers, which one will the fountain bless? . . . Just one wish will be granted. One heart will wear a valentine. Make it mine!”

Typical to Rodrigue’s process, he used references from popular culture to title his work in order to bestow his vision with deeper layers of meaning. In most of these pieces, Rodrigue presented the Blue Dog asking the eternal, ever-present questions common to all people such as, “Why am I here?” and “Where am I going?” However, here we see the shape and color of Rodrigue’s iconic Blue Dog, set on three different, strongly-colored backgrounds of red, purple, and yellow specifically each asking that question common to all dreamers, “Will my wish be granted?”

Three Coins in the Fountain (Red)
2003/2020
12 x 12 inches
Estate Stamped edition of 100
#3-40 Available as a Triptych only (Sold Out)
#41-100 Available Individually in RED, YELLOW and PURPLE
Learn more at link in bio

To create his Blue Dog Series, George Rodrigue ...

May 26

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To create his Blue Dog Series, George Rodrigue com

To create his Blue Dog Series, George Rodrigue combined several concepts over three decades of development --- the "loup-garou" or Cajun were wolf; the shape of his dog Tiffany (pictured c. 1979) as revealed in this specific, head-on photograph; and, most important, through his constant creative work to evolve the imagery.

Texas businessman, Don Sanders purchased his first...

May 24

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Texas businessman, Don Sanders purchased his first

Texas businessman, Don Sanders purchased his first Rodrigue painting in 2000, and for the next 13 years he and George Rodrigue built a lasting friendship. Sanders continued to collect the artist’s work, amassing one of the largest privately held collections of the work of Rodrigue. Yet as full as his collection was, it was chiefly comprised of works from the Blue Dog and Hurricane series, thus Sanders expressed his desire to have some Cajun paintings to round out his collection. With none currently available in 2010, Rodrigue painted this painting for his good friend.

However, presented with health problems in the late 1980s brought on by the harsh chemicals in the oil paints and spray varnish, the artist was advised by his doctors to abandon oil paints. His only recourse was to switch exclusively to acrylic paints, a water-based pigment that was fast-drying and produced far brighter and more intense colors than the oils. By the late 1990s, Rodrigue was completely comfortable with this new medium.

Over his career, George Rodrigue painted the Cajun legend “Jolie Blonde” more than a hundred times, using a number of models. One of the models that appears frequently in the role of this pretty blonde legend is Carolyn Jones, (see 2/2 photo) the daughter of a Shreveport collector, whom Rodrigue photographed extensively in a number of settings. The original painting, Jolie Blonde with Rose (1979) is held in a private collection; this second painting was altered just slightly, including the addition of another rose therefore playfully titled by the artist, Jolie Blonde - Two Roses Are Better Than One.

This work contains all the elements of a typical portrait of Jolie Blonde, including the oak tree which is cut off at the top, thus forming interesting shapes where the branches meet with the sky, and the mysterious light source. She is seen in three-quarter view, and wears a white dress that shines brightly against the dark background.

Jolie Blonde - Two Roses are Better than One
2010
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 20 inches
Newly available at Rodrigue Studios. Learn more by contacting us at link in bio.

“Sometimes I incorporate the Blue Dog with the ...

May 23

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“Sometimes I incorporate the Blue Dog with the o

“Sometimes I incorporate the Blue Dog with the old Cajun landscape that I used to paint. But I put a new twist on it, relating the contemporary Blue Dog to the old style. I like to look back…" -George Rodrigue

GOOD MORNING ACADIANA
2010/2017
Stone lithograph designed by George Rodrigue and released posthumously
Printed in Paris, France
Numbered Edition of 90
Official Rodrigue Estate Stamp
25×25 inches
Available at Rodrigue Studios and online here at link in bio

The painting "Moonstruck" pictured on ...

May 21

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The painting "Moonstruck" pictured on George Rodri

The painting "Moonstruck" pictured on George Rodrigue's easel in 2012 after being completed. In 2022, Rodrigue Studios released the image as an Estate Edition. Learn more by contacting us at link in bio.

Over the years, George Rodrigue found himself frequently using some of the same motifs in his paintings and silkscreens. Flowers, hearts, swirls, eyes, candles…all were recurring designs found throughout his work, which changed In this late work, George Rodrigue renders the oak tree with the same rules he set for himself in the early 1970s — with hard edges and dissected at the top, so that the sky is small and defined by the irregular shapes formed by the branches.

The Blue Dog stands as a focal point, reminiscent of the artist’s early loup-garou paintings, but here the Blue Dog is not within a dark and eery landscape, rather appears to glow beneath the bright moon, perhaps a bit “moonstruck” and optimistic for a brighter tomorrow.

Texas businessman, Don Sanders purchased his first...

May 20

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Texas businessman, Don Sanders purchased his first

Texas businessman, Don Sanders purchased his first Rodrigue painting in 2000, and for the next 13 years he and George Rodrigue built a lasting friendship. Sanders continued to collect the artist’s work, amassing one of the largest privately held collections of the work of Rodrigue. Yet as full as his collection was, it was chiefly comprised of works from the Blue Dog and Hurricane series, thus Sanders expressed his desire to have some Cajun paintings to round out his collection.

However, presented with health problems in the late 1980s brought on by the harsh chemicals in the oil paints and spray varnish, the artist was advised by his doctors to abandon oil paints. His only recourse was to switch exclusively to acrylic paints, a water-based pigment that was fast-drying and produced far brighter and more intense colors than the oils. By the late 1990s, Rodrigue was completely comfortable with this new medium, finding renewed interest in both landscapes and the human body. Both of these canvases are painted with acrylics producing colors that are far bolder and stronger than his previous Cajun works.

Painted in 2010, the figures are portrayed in the same style as Rodrigue's earlier Cajun works. The figures are pushed to the foreground, and featured in light-colored clothing; they have a ‘ghost-like’ glow, giving the distinct feeling they are suspended between the sky, trees and earth. The men are seen playing bourré, a game of chance invented by the Cajuns, which was somewhat of a cross between poker and bridge. As both seated men appear to be holding the “Ace of Hearts”, there are definitely “one too many aces” in this game.

One Too Many Aces
2010
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 40 inches
Available at Rodrigue Studios. Learn more at link in bio

George Rodrigue opened his first gallery in New ...

May 19

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George Rodrigue opened his first gallery in New Or

George Rodrigue opened his first gallery in New Orleans in 1989. In 2010 (pictured), he built his dream gallery space in one of the most historic buildings in the French Quarter at 730 Royal Street. #tbt

The gallery features the artist’s depictions of the Louisiana landscape, Cajun culture and his Blue Dog series. The exhibit spaces continually rotates selections from the artist’s career and this is the best space in the world to exclusively view Rodrigue’s original paintings and prints.

Our gallery hours are:
Monday – Saturday: 11:00-5:00
Sunday: 12:00 – 5:00
Or by appointment

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