Dr. Seuss’ pri­vate art­work is on dis­play in a three-week exhibit at Rankin Art Gallery.

Seuss, as he is known to most of the world for his beloved children’s books, is actu­ally Theodor Geisel.

The exhibit is made up of 30 pan­els of Geisel’s explain­ing his life and work, accord­ing to Carrie Weis, cura­tor of the Rankin Art Gallery.

A National Touring Exhibition curated by Bill Dryer of the Chase Art Group, the work on dis­play includes polit­i­cal car­toons, Unorthodox Taxidermy and others.

“The works in the exhibit ‘The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss’ are more sophis­ti­cated than the children’s illus­tra­tions. Most peo­ple don’t think of him as a fine artist, but the paint­ings and prints in this col­lec­tion will dis­pute that impres­sion,” said Weis.

While his works often fea­ture fic­tional char­ac­ters like the Grinch and the Lorax, his pur­pose behind the sto­ry­line is very real. Weis said the Lorax really was about con­sumerism, indus­tri­al­ism, the abuse of non-renewable resources and the lack of respect we as a species show our planet.

“He was very polit­i­cally active. He had strong opin­ions of WWII, Hitler and the econ­omy dur­ing that period of time,” said Weis.

A spe­cial recep­tion is planned for Thursday, Feb. 11 includ­ing a unique “Seussical” menu pro­vided by Ferris cater­ing free of charge from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

The Rankin Art Gallery is located in the Rankin Center across from Seattle’s Best Coffee shop.