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,
BLUE: The Life and Art of George Rodrigue is airing on public TV stations, presented by WLAE New Orleans and distributed by American Public Television. Stream exclusively with the PBS Passport app by becoming a member of your local PBS affiliate.
“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.”
We are thrilled to announce that “Blue – The Life and Art of George Rodrigue” has won the national 2026 News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Regional Documentary! Produced by WLAE-TV New Orleans (6th Street Studios) in association with O’Malley Productions, this intimate, career-spanning documentary is the first-ever film […]
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.
EMMY WINNER! 🏆
“Blue – The Life and Art of George Rodrigue” just won the Outstanding Regional Documentary at the 47th National News & Documentary Emmy Awards tonight in New York at Jazz at Lincoln Center!
This is a huge deal — only five regional documentaries from the entire country even get nominated each year. For a film made right here in New Orleans by our local station WLAE-TV, telling the story of a true Louisiana icon like George, to take home the national Emmy is something special.
Huge congratulations to director Sean O’Malley and the entire WLAE team at @rodriguebluedogfilm. Thank you to everyone who has supported the film from the very beginning — this one is for Louisiana and for George. 💙
#EmmyWinner #GeorgeRodrigue #BlueTheDocumentary
Spanish Moss, 1995
Oil on linen
8 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches
Inquires: [email protected]
Though landscape paintings are most often associated with George Rodrigue’s early work, he painted the natural world throughout his career. Spanish Moss has the feel of one of Rodrigue’s early landscapes despite being created in 1995. In this painting, as with those early landscapes, Rodrigue divides his canvas into three core elements: the oak tree, the ground, and the sky. Here, he pays special attention to the oak tree, which is rendered in a painterly, almost impressionistic style to emphasize the moss on the tree. Though Rodrigue’s early landscapes were known for their use of dark colors, in Spanish Moss, he strikes a delicate balance between the light and dark elements, resulting in a work that depicts the subtle stylistic shifts legible in the work of an artist committed to a particular subject matter.
Celebrating the courage and sacrifice of our brave servicemen and women this Memorial Day. We honor those who selflessly served America, giving their lives to protect our freedom and way of life. Let us take a moment to reflect and express our deepest gratitude. May this Memorial Day be a time of remembrance, unity, and safe enjoyment for all. 🇺🇸 #MemorialDay #HonorAndRemember
Pictured: Stand Up Straight and Tall, 2001 by George Rodrigue, 48x48 inches, acrylic on canvas. Collection of the @neworleansmuseumofart
She Told Me to Hit the Road and Never Come Back, 1994
Oil heavily embellished direct image transfer on masonite
30 x 40 inches
On view at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans
Inquiries: [email protected]
She Told Me to the Hit the Road and Never Come Back takes its inspiration from a painting titled Escort for the Kingfish. In 1988 the son of a Louisiana state police officer commissioned George Rodrigue to create a painting based on a photograph of his father’s police unit. The unit, officially known as the Law Enforcement Division of the Highway Commission and informally as the Cajun Highway Police, escorted Huey P. Long, the 40th governor of Louisiana, around the state. In his painting, Rodrigue placed the men in one of his oak tree-accented landscape settings.
A few years after completing Escort for the Kingfish, Rodrigue created a mixed media piece from the work. Throughout the early 1990s, Rodrigue occasionally created Direct Image Transfers of his Cajun and Blue Dog paintings, primarily at the request of collectors. Rodrigue created his DITs in small edition sizes; each work resulted from rendering a high-quality, large-format photograph of an original painting onto masonite board or canvas.
In addition to the printed elements of She Told Me to the Hit the Road and Never Come Back, Rodrigue also hand-painted a sizable blue dog into the work. The blue dog, which measures approximately 12 x 8 inches wears the same motorcycle goggles as the governor’s police force. The inclusion of the blue dog in the scene speaks to Rodrigue’s ability to create artwork that evokes Louisiana’s history through the visual language of contemporary pop art.
Discover “Red Hot Summer of ‘06” a striking piece by George Rodrigue from 2006 (private collection). This 40 x 30-inch acrylic 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]
George Rodrigue with his 2012 painting Beach Ball Bingo in his New Orleans home.
This coastal scene featuring two Blue Dogs on the beach was one of his favorite late works. The original painting is now available as a limited estate lithograph, hand-pulled in France.
Learn more at link in bio ⬆️
#TBT #GeorgeRodrigue #BlueDog #BeachBallBingo #RodrigueStudio
Discover “Memories of Tennessee Walker” a striking piece by George Rodrigue from 1998 (private collection). This 18 x 24-inch acrylic 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]
Untitled (We Love Both of You)
George Rodrigue, 1996
Acrylic on canvas
A group of visitors in the gallery last week — a local couple hosting family from Vietnam — immediately recognized the large red heart in this painting as strikingly similar to BT21’s character Tata.
Originally created for a wedding, the work almost entirely conceals the Blue Dog behind the heart, with the inscription “we love both of you, because your heart has touched all of us.”
Now on view at Rodrigue Studios, New Orleans.
Inquiries at Contact link in bio ⬆️
#BT21 #Tata #BT21Tata #BTSARMY #BTS
