23 September 2026

A nice painting of a horse can just be a nice painting of a horse.

With the possible exceptions of wine, luxury sports cars, and vinyl records, there is perhaps nothing that brings out the snob in people quite like art. When you think about an exhibit in a museum or gallery, it’s easy to conjure up images of a woman wearing pearls and a man in a tweed jacket (and maybe even a monocle) staring endlessly at a painting and talking about line and brushwork and using terms like “chiaroscuro” and “sfumato” and other words you would probably need a dictionary to define.

To put it simply, the world of art and art appreciation, by and large, has become highfalutin. You can’t just admire a work because it is pretty or colorful or you like the way the artist painted a horse. You have to look for hidden symbolism or analyze the artist’s intentions or explain why it’s “important.”

But, can’t a nice painting of a horse just be a nice painting of a horse?! We say yes, yes it can. Despite some people who believe you need a degree in Art History to truly understand and appreciate art, we don’t buy it. Art is for everyone.

And what makes art even better are the stories behind it. For example, what if you found out that the horse in the painting above had a dark history? That one day out of the blue, it went on a rampage through a village, eating several women’s hats and defecating on the new rug in the mayor’s office? And that it took six men to capture it, and in the course of the pursuit, it had half its tail cut off? That’s something you’d probably remember, right? None of that actually happened (as far as we know), but it would make a heck of a backstory for that painting, wouldn’t it?

This is what we aim to do with this newsletter. We are going to tell the stories of artists and their art. Some you’ll surely be familiar with, others perhaps not so much. We want to inform and entertain and show that you don’t need a degree to love and appreciate art as much as anybody. We also want to prove that all kinds of art are worth knowing about, including work that the tweed-jacket set would probably lose their monocles over, including this iconic piece.

Chances are quite good that you know this painting or at least one very similar. While these dogs playing poker (the actual title is just Poker Game) have been mentioned or depicted – or made fun of – in countless movies and TV shows, what you may not know is that this painting dates all the way back to 1894. The artist is Cassius Marcellus Coolidge who, before becoming an illustrator, tried his hand a number of professions, including banking, newspaper publishing, and sign painting. If you’ve ever stuck your head through one of those cartoon murals that make you look like you’re wearing a funny outfit, you can thank Coolidge, as he is credited with creating these.

Poker Game is actually just one in a series of works depicting canines engaged in human activities, and there are 18 altogether. Only half of them show dogs playing poker, while others have them playing pool and football, camping, or just enjoying a nice meal. Most feature them smoking cigars, as all but two were commissioned by Brown & Bigelow to advertise their cigars.

For the most part, Coolidge’s paintings have been written off as kitschy or tacky. But with all their charm and whimsey, it’s hard to look at them and not smile. And while they probably were never meant to be taken too seriously, they are prized by serious collectors. In a Sotheby’s auction in 2015, Poker Game sold for the not-so-small sum of $658,000.

If you are an art lover – or maybe you want to be – this newsletter will bring you interesting, fun, or flat-out weird stories from the world of art. Our goal is to give you something to think about or talk about without any of the pretentiousness. Know somebody who might also appreciate the chance to better appreciate art? Feel free to pass this along to them. And if there are any artists or artwork you’re eager to know more about, drop us a line. We would love to hear your ideas for future issues.

How was this issue?

One tap is all it takes.