"On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog" original painting sells for $175,000

"On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog" is a proverb and Internet catchphrase. This popular quote was first published in The New Yorker on July 5, 1993. It is universally recognized for capturing the essence of the anonymity of the Internet and the liberation from popular prejudice it provides. On October 6, 2023, the original painting accompanying the publication was sold at auction for US$175,000.

The painting was originally the title of a comic strip by Peter Steiner, which has since earned Steiner more than $250,000 from the reprint rights alone.

While Heritage Auctions estimates the comic will fetch between $40,000 and $60,000, the auction record for a single comic book artwork is the $3.84 million sold for Hegg's "Tintin" illustration in 2021, and Steiner's illustration arguably holds greater significance. The final result did not challenge the record of "Tintin", but it did achieve the highest price for a single comic.

According to Bob Mankoff, the New Yorker's cartoon editor at the time: "The cartoon resonated with us, and we were wary of the shallow pretense that anyone with even a passing familiarity with HTML might make."

Considering the time of the cartoon's creation and the use of the word "Internet" in 1993, many believe that this cartoon was the starting point for the term "Internet" to enter the popular consciousness, even though people were still using AOL and dial-up modems and spending hours waiting for a single image to be transmitted and downloaded. Even then, the Internet remained elusive to some; in fact, just a year after the comic was published, Bryant Gumbel was still asking his Today show colleagues, "What is the Internet?"

Bill Gates was the first to reprint this cartoon in his book "The Road Ahead" published in 1995, and paid a reprint fee of US$200. On February 29, 2012, then-Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg had this cartoon projected behind her when she announced advertising opportunities for marketers on the social network. This is the first step in an initial public offering of the company's stock.