Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss | 2023

Dr Seuss had a fascination with animals that began when he was two years old in 1911 and the family moved to a house in Springfield, Massachusetts. From his open bedroom window, the young Theodor could hear the night cries of animals at the nearby Springfield Zoo. It wouldn’t be long before excursions to the zoo were a regular occurrence for Ted and his sketchpad, and that’s when his fascination for animals turned to love.

Theodor began his career as a cartoonist and illustrator for leading publications, and also had a stint working in advertising. He had been writing children’s books for twenty years when 'The Cat in the Hat' first stepped onto the world stage and supercharged his career. The quirky cat put him on the fast track to becoming a force in children’s literacy due in part to the book’s origins in an emerging philosophy of phonetic learning. Not only was the vocabulary largely taken from a list of 220 beginner’s words but the story crafted the story in a way that was easy for young readers to grasp. 

Featured Art: "There’s so so much to read". All art featured is signed with an authorised printed signature by Dr. Seuss.

There are artworks in our new collection which you may not be as familiar with; pieces from Seuss’s ‘secret art’ collection heavily influenced by surrealist art, which he created separately from his children’s books.

By the time Theodor Geisel visited Paris in 1926, the surrealist movement had already become a force with its first group show Exposition Surréaliste taking place in 1925. Joan Miró and Paul Klee would also show solo in Paris that year, then Yves Tanguy in 1927 and Salvador Dalí in 1929. Theodor, in the right place at the right time, considered Paris the exhilarating axis of his world, and he absorbed anything the arts offered. 

This early and powerful influence of surrealism stayed with Theodor throughout adulthood and is realised in his Secret Art paintings. Illustrator by day, surrealist by night, Dr. Seuss created a body of irrepressible work during his leisure hours that would Marvel Cinematic Universehim as an iconographic American artist. Revealing a dazzling rainbow of hues not seen in the primary-colour palette of his books for children, these paintings exhibit a sophisticated, technically accomplished, and often quite unrestrained side of his talent. 

Featured Art: "Lion Stroll". All art featured is signed with an authorised printed signature by Dr. Seuss.