George Rodrigue was born in New Iberia, Louisiana on March 13, 1944. In the mid-60s, while attending the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, he came to understand the uniqueness of his heritage, realizing that few people outside of Louisiana had ever visited his home area or even heard the word “Cajun”. Rodrigue returned to New Iberia determined to paint his own culture, beginning with the distinctive Louisiana live oak. 

The oak tree was an important subject, which represented the artist’s understanding of the enclosed Louisiana landscape and its small, white sky in harsh contrast with the big sky in neighboring Texas. Experimenting with variations on one basic formula, the artist painted nothing but tree, ground and sky for five years --- unknowingly premising his future work. He never tired of the oak tree. Instead, he was fascinated by the various designs the three elements allowed him to create.