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,
2026 Emmy® Award Winner BLUE: The Life and Art of George Rodrigue is airing on public TV stations and streaming exclusively via PBS Passport. Presented by WLAE New Orleans and distributed by American Public Television.
“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.
For Father’s Day, a letter from Jacques Rodrigue to his Dad as published on NOLA.com in 2025 for the article, “Cupid, Emeril, George Rodrigue, more: Read Father’s Day letters from across Louisiana” linked here - https://bit.ly/rodriguefathersday
Dear Dad,
Nearly 12 years since you’ve been gone, yet your presence still guides me daily. You always supported your boys, André and me, and those memories fill my heart with gratitude for the lessons, love, and laughter. I recall our gallery home childhood, playing pool, watching Letterman while you painted, me on my canvas beside your easel.
I remember you on every adventure, recalling road trips in the van with my friends to art shows from coast to coast. You installed a TV/VCR for Nintendo and movies like Airplane!, Monty Python, and Mel Brooks classics we were probably too young for. While most adults dreaded managing kids, you dove in, spending weeks alone with us, laughing like one of us, making experiences like the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas birthdays unforgettable.
Our Saints and LSU fandom bonded us; Mardi Gras was electric with your revelry. For your 60th, we performed an epic Blues Brothers routine.
I strive to honor you, passing your traits and memories to my son, hoping to be the dad you were to me. You would’ve been an incredible grandfather. We miss you deeply. Thank you. Happy Father’s Day.
With gratitude, Jacques Rodrigue
pictured, Artist George Rodrigue and his son Jacques Rodrigue at the Acadiana Center for the Arts (AcA) in Lafayette, Louisiana, in 2009. This image was captured during the major retrospective exhibition George Rodrigue: Legends and Lives of Acadiana (March 14 – April 26, 2009, Main Gallery), which featured more than 60 original oil paintings on loan from local collectors.
Discover “Portrait of the Artist’s Father” one of George Rodrigue’s earliest pieces from 1965 (private collection). This 24 x 20-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]
As America prepares for its 250th birthday 🇺🇸 we’ve been reflecting on how George’s art made its way to the White House — always in his own voice. #FBF
He painted President Reagan’s An American Hero (1986) and Vice President Bush with his grandchildren (1988) in his signature Cajun style: warm live oaks, storytelling, and that unmistakable Louisiana heart. These weren’t stiff official portraits. They were human, rooted, and deeply American.
By 1997, everything had evolved. For the official 53rd Presidential Inaugural print, President Clinton personally asked George to include the Blue Dog. What started as a Cajun loup-garou had become a national icon, welcomed into the highest levels of American life.
Swipe through to see the journey.
A Cajun artist from Louisiana helped shape how we see our presidents — and how our presidents saw us.
Which moment speaks to you the most? Tell us below ❤️
#GeorgeRodrigue #BlueDog #Americas250th #July4th
For a moment, while studying at The Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, George Rodrigue considered pursuing a career in automotive design. While he ultimately decided to stick to fine art, he occasionally included cars in his paintings and printwork.
In The Devil In Me, an early print from 1991 Sold Out for decades, Rodrigue sets three dogs against a background anchored by a pink convertible. Rodrigue’s detailed depiction of the car’s front end and wheels speaks to that early interest in automobile design. In Rodrigue’s early silkscreen prints, the red dog symbolized the blue dog’s mischievous or, as the print’s title suggests, devilish side.
The Devil in Me
1991
Silkscreen on paper
22 x 28 inches
Signed: AP Edition
Available and on display at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans.
Inquiries: [email protected]
Mixed Media N1-07 available and on display at Rodrigue Studios New Orleans.
In the early 1990s, George Rodrigue began creating works that combined silkscreen ink and paint. The artist referred to these works as mixed medias since they included more than one artistic medium. This large-scale mixed-media features a blue dog rendered in silkscreen ink, accented with colorful, exuberant flourishes in acrylic paint on illustration board.
As with all of Rodrigue’s mixed medias, the painted elements in N1-07 emphasize the artist’s hand through the expressive application of paint on the work’s surface. Rodrigue’s gestural, visible brushstrokes underscore that while each mixed media contains silkscreen-printed elements, the painted elements make each a unique, one-of-a-kind artwork.
N1-07
2007
Acrylic paint and silkscreen ink on illustration board
52 x 35 inches
Inquiries: [email protected]
🌟 Still one of our favorite print releases from last summer — especially now with all the exciting news around the film.
“I’m a Movie Star” (2010/2025) is a limited Estate Edition silkscreen on chrome paper. George originally created the mixed-media work with hand-painted flowers and vibrant details, and selected a version of this image as the official poster for the 2013 Carmel Art & Film Festival when he was the featured artist. The family later chose it as the key promotional image for the documentary Blue: The Life and Art of George Rodrigue.
The print (21 x 26 inches, edition of 225) captures George’s experimental approach — treating chrome paper almost like a canvas for silkscreen and acrylic.
If you haven’t caught the documentary yet, it’s now streaming exclusively through PBS Passport via your local public television station (a benefit of PBS membership). The film takes viewers through George’s journey from his Cajun roots and early challenges to creating the iconic Blue Dog that captured the world’s imagination.
Fresh update: Blue has won the 2026 News & Documentary Emmy award for Outstanding Regional Documentary!
More on the print available at Documentary link in bio ⬆️
To stream the film, check PBS Passport through your local station.
#GeorgeRodrigue #BlueDog #BlueTheDocumentary #PBSPassport #EmmyWinner
Discover “Looking for Summer Shade” a striking piece by George Rodrigue from 1977 (private collection). This 36 x 24-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]
Although George Rodrigue is best known for his oak tree–accented depictions of the Louisiana landscape, throughout his career he drew inspiration from other places with different landscapes. As a child, he visited the Mississippi Gulf Coast with his parents; as an art student in California during the 1960s, he traveled along the Pacific coast; and he later spent time on the Florida Panhandle and in Hawaii. These experiences inspired a group of coastal scenes featuring his iconic Blue Dog—originally derived from Cajun loup-garou folklore—which he relocated from bayou settings into new environments.
In 2012, Rodrigue painted Beach Ball Bingo, a shore scene featuring two Blue Dogs standing in the sand among three colorful beach balls. The composition’s bold, flat colors and simplified forms reflect his blend of Bayou Surrealist roots and Pop-art sensibility. The paired dogs add a note of companionship, while subtly shifting shades of blue distinguish sky from water and more saturated colors define the curving strips of sand closest to the shoreline.
Beach Ball Bingo serves as a precursor to the 2013 silkscreen Sit in Your Own Chair, which depicts a row of brightly colored Adirondack beach chairs each paired with a Blue Dog. It follows earlier works such as Hawaiian Blues (1998–99). In 2017, the painting was included in the exhibition Rodrigue: American Beach at the artist’s former gallery in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
Beach Ball Bingo is now available as an estate-stamped lithograph. These hand-pulled stone lithographs were produced in France by skilled artisans specializing in traditional printmaking.
Beach Ball Bingo
2012
Lithograph on paper
18 x 36 inches
Edition of 175 (sold unframed)
Available online at link in bio ⬆️
