Louisiana native artist George Rodrigue (American/Louisiana, 1944–2013) is perhaps most widely known for his Blue Dog paintings, but the George Rodrigue Life & Legacy Foundation’s traveling exhibition The River is Road explores an earlier time in his oeuvre. This exhibition is the first of its kind and traces forty-five years of river imagery in Rodrigue’s paintings, exploring the unique ways the artist used the river as a reference to his Cajun heritage, and ultimately as a metaphor for the journey of life. Rodrigue reflected that the people of Louisiana “had no roads; we just had the water. They were the natural fairways for commerce, development, and everything necessary for settlers to expand.”  

Appropriately, this exhibition will culminate this spring in the heart of Louisiana, along the Red River, at the Alexandria Museum of Art (AMoA). Returning to AMoA with this exhibition is a part of the museum’s permanent collection, Steamboat, Rodrigue’s 1972 oil-on- canvas painting, which has been traveling with the exhibition for the past two years.  

AMoA first opened its doors in 1977 as the public organ of the Central Louisiana Art Association, which had existed since 1938. The first piece accessioned into the museum was by a local female artist, Kitty Wilkins, closely followed by Rodrigue’s Steamboat, a gift from Robert K. Fell. These two works of art are emblematic of the museum’s collection, which now contains over 1,400 pieces from artists all over the world but maintains an emphasis on  

Louisiana, Southern, and American modern and contemporary art, with additional focus on artists who influenced the modern art movement. Other notable Louisiana artists in the collection include Ida Kohlmeyer, Clementine Hunter, and Alexander Drysdale. 

Alongside The River is the Road, AMoA features Enduring Concepts: People, Place, Spirituality, and Emotion, an exhibition from the permanent collection that highlights the intersectionality of art themes from local and international artists. This anchor exhibition is an excellent complement to the themes and symbols explored in Rodrigue’s work, following the paths of human existence and experience, reminding us that we are all navigating the same rivers and roads as those who came before us and those who will inherit the world we are shaping.  

To round out these themes, AMoA’s Community Gallery will feature the next generation of artists throughout the spring with a Youth Art Month Juried Exhibition, featured works from art students at LSU Alexandria, and the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts Scholarship Winners traveling exhibition.  

The River is the Road will be on view from March 7 through June 21, 2025, at the Alexandria Museum of Art, 933 Second Street, Alexandria, LA, 71301.