Dogs and coffee have more in common than you might think.
Both have a habit of becoming part of the morning routine.
Both inspire a slightly unreasonable amount of devotion.
And both have somehow convinced perfectly sensible people to spend considerably more money on them than originally intended.
So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that artists keep putting them together.
We’ve seen dogs clutching mugs, dogs sitting in cafés, dogs staring desperately into cups and dogs looking suspiciously like they’ve already had three espressos and are considering a fourth.
Some of it is wonderfully ridiculous.
Some is surprisingly beautiful.
And occasionally you find something you’d genuinely hang in a very good room.
That’s where we decided to take this.
We imagined ten completely different artists creating their own interpretation of dogs and coffee, then gave each piece a home worthy of it.
Different dogs.
Different artists.
Different rooms.
Different cups.
And very different relationships with caffeine.
The One Who Has Clearly Had Enough
There are people who drink coffee because they enjoy it.
And then there are people who appear to require it simply to continue operating.
Our first artist seems to have met one of those people.
He just happened to paint him as a dog.
The wild eyes and exploding hair suggest we’re no longer dealing with a first cup of the morning. Possibly not even a third.
It’s ridiculous.
It’s also a terrific painting.
Placed prominently in a warm contemporary home filled with walnut and natural materials, it becomes exactly the sort of artwork that prevents a beautiful room from becoming too serious.
You’d notice it every time you walked past.
And probably smile every time.
Coffee in Paris
The second artist takes us somewhere completely different.
No enormous eyes.
No flying hair.
No caffeine emergency.
Just two elegant sighthounds sitting opposite each other at a tiny Parisian café table.
The photograph is black and white, beautifully composed and almost completely believable.
One dog has a small porcelain cup.
The other appears to be watching the street.
Perhaps they’ve been meeting here every Sunday for years.
We don’t know.
And that’s precisely why it works.
Displayed as a large horizontal photograph in a restrained Parisian-inspired apartment, it’s less funny dog picture and more a photograph with a wonderfully strange story hiding inside it.
His Lordship Takes Coffee at Nine
Some dogs were always going to look good in an oil painting.
The English Bulldog may have been waiting several centuries for his opportunity.
Our third piece is unapologetically traditional: a beautifully painted Bulldog seated at a dark table beside an elaborate silver coffee service.
He looks important.
Extremely important.
Possibly landed gentry.
The small porcelain cup somehow makes him look even more serious.
An ornate gilt frame and a traditional library complete the illusion.
There will be no takeaway cup.
There will be no flavoured syrup.
Coffee is served at nine.
Please don’t be late.
The Pug Goes Pop
Subtlety has left the building.
A Pug.
An enormous takeaway cup.
Bold blocks of colour.
And enough graphic energy to dominate an otherwise restrained contemporary condo.
This is dog-and-coffee art with absolutely no intention of quietly blending into the room.
Nor should it.
The square artwork is large, bright and deliberately playful.
The Pug looks delighted with the entire situation.
Some artwork finishes a room.
Some walks through the front door and takes it over.
We suspect the Pug would approve.
3:07 A.M.
Not every relationship with coffee begins in daylight.
A sleepy Basset Hound sits alone at a kitchen table.
There’s a small diner mug in front of him.
One light is on.
Everything else disappears into deep blues and murky greens.
He isn’t cheerful.
He isn’t whimsical.
He’s simply awake at an hour when nobody should be awake.
The small horizontal painting hangs above a bedside table in a moody contemporary bedroom rather than dominating the room.
And somehow that’s what makes it funnier.
You don’t immediately notice it.
Then you do.
And you understand exactly how he feels.
Coffee Break, 1967
Coffee tasted different when it came from a chrome pot and somebody called you “hon.”
At least that’s what this Jack Russell would have us believe.
Rendered as a vintage editorial illustration, he sits in a café booth beside a thick ceramic diner cup, surrounded by mustard, burnt orange, cream and brown.
The artwork feels as though it could have been discovered in an old magazine.
Placed in a genuine mid-century interior filled with teak, stone and beautifully preserved furniture, it doesn’t feel like novelty dog art at all.
It belongs there.
Which raises an important question.
Was the dog always there?
We’re choosing to believe he was.
You Don’t See the Dog Immediately
From across the room, this one looks abstract.
A huge unframed canvas.
Black.
Cream.
Rust.
Loose gestural marks moving across an otherwise very quiet architectural space.
Then you look again.
There’s a Poodle.
And beside the Poodle is a tiny red espresso cup.
Once you’ve seen them, you can’t unsee them.
That’s what makes this piece interesting.
It doesn’t announce itself as dog art.
It makes you discover the dog.
And in a very minimal home where nearly everything has been deliberately restrained, that little espresso cup becomes surprisingly funny.
Sunday Morning
Not every cup of coffee needs drama.
A shaggy Sheepdog is curled beside an oversized handmade mug.
A newspaper lies nearby.
Morning light drifts into the scene.
That’s about it.
The artist has rendered everything in loose watercolour washes, allowing edges to disappear and large areas of paper to remain untouched.
It’s quiet, imperfect and wonderfully relaxed.
Displayed relatively small with a generous white mat in a casual coastal home, this might be the least obviously humorous piece in the collection.
It may also be one of the easiest to live with.
Because some mornings aren’t about getting somewhere.
They’re about not going anywhere yet.
He Has Some Questions About the Beans
Of course there’s one.
A very serious Schnauzer leans toward a tiny cup of coffee.
He’s smelling it.
Studying it.
Considering it.
Behind him, loosely rendered coffee equipment suggests this isn’t his first encounter with specialty coffee.
He would like to know the origin of the beans.
The elevation.
The processing method.
The roast date.
And presumably whether anyone bothered to properly calibrate the grinder this morning.
The narrow mixed-media portrait hangs in a dramatic modern kitchen, where it feels almost sophisticated.
Almost.
Then you look at his face.
This dog is absolutely sending the coffee back.
The Monday Morning Meeting
Four dogs.
Four coffees.
Four completely different attitudes toward being here.
One is paying attention.
One is staring into his cup.
One has mentally left the building.
And one is looking out the window as though considering whether employment is really necessary.
The large panoramic painting is loose, energetic and distinctly European in character, with the dogs gathered around a café table rather than an office boardroom.
But we know a Monday morning meeting when we see one.
Displayed in a sophisticated contemporary dining room, it’s large enough that you can read each dog’s expression from across the room.
Which means everyone who sees it will eventually choose the dog they identify with.
We already know ours.
Dog Art Doesn’t Have to Look Like Dog Décor
That’s really what we love about this collection.
A home can belong to someone who loves dogs without containing paw prints, cute sayings or a sign explaining exactly how much they love their dog.
Sometimes one extraordinary piece of artwork says considerably more.
It can be funny.
Elegant.
Strange.
Quiet.
Colourful.
Or sophisticated enough that you don’t even notice the dog until you’ve been looking at it for a while.
And if there’s a cup of coffee involved?
Apparently we’re fine with that too.
Just remember that the coffee belongs in the artwork — not in your dog’s bowl.
But Can Dogs Actually Drink Coffee?
Despite what our imaginary artists might suggest, dogs and real coffee are not a good combination.
Coffee contains caffeine, which can be dangerous for dogs, and coffee beans and grounds can pose an even greater concern because of their concentrated caffeine content.
If you’re wondering what happens if your dog steals some coffee — or gets into the grounds — we’ve put together a separate guide explaining what dog owners should know.
[Can Dogs Drink Coffee? What Pet Owners Need to Know →]
Keep Exploring
If Dogs Ordered Coffee, Things Would Get Complicated
What happens when dogs start ordering coffee exactly the way humans do?
There are modifications.
There is latte art.
There is a coffee snob.
And somewhere in the café, a Labrador is rapidly losing patience.
[See what happens when dogs start ordering coffee →]
Dogs, People & the Neighbourhood Coffee Shop
Sometimes the best part of getting coffee isn’t really the coffee.
It’s the walk there, the patio, the neighbourhood and the dog sitting beside you while absolutely nothing important happens.
[Explore dogs, people and the coffee shops they share →]
