Cats in the World of Art & Painting

The Large Cat (1657), Cornelis Visscher

Growing up and when my daughter was young we had several cats, mainly tabbies. I found this engraving by Dutch artist Cornelis Visscher (1629-58) which you can see at the Art Institute of Chicago. The website calls this "one of the softest, most tactile renditions of a cat ever printed". I agree!

Chachi the Cat (2021), J. Patterson

This post is inspired by a recent colored pencil drawing of a barn cat completed by my brother, who also paints other subjects such as dogs and horses. In May of last year, for my 100th post, I published Anthropomorphic Art -- Animals as Humans, which was inspired by a kitschy portrait of a squirrel wearing glasses that my brother shared from a visit to his optometrist's office. It included the Abraham Teniers painting of cats being pampered by monkeys (check it out!).

Bo from Purrfect Pals

My own cat creation happened at a Saturday Sit-Stay-'n'-Play painting event at the Everett Mall when I first started volunteering with PawsWithCause.

Lina from Purrfect Pals

Another senior participant painted this awesome calico cat portrait.

I enjoy seeing how the public gets inspired by these shelter animals. Being an art docent is a rewarding endeavor that helps people of all ages find their inner artist.

White Angora Cat (1761), Bachelier

Another favorite of mine is the white angora cat beautifully (oil) painted by French artist, Jean-Jaques Bachelier. Here we see a cat chasing a butterfly. The cat's fur is well-executed. Though I wouldn't want to have to brush that coat!

Two Cats Blue and Yellow
(1912), Franz Marc

Cats on a Red Cloth (1909),
Franz Marc

20th century German Expressionist Franz Marc captured some cats sleeping or grooming themselves. The first painting is more realistic than his second more expressive Cubist work. Can you find the mouse?

18th century English artist Thomas Gainsborough also studied feline positions of the Great Cat. According to the referenced link, his black-and-white chalk drawing is similar to that of another famous artist from the 15th century.

Apparently, I missed Paul Gauguin's Flowers and Cats (1899) while visiting the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum in Copenhagen, Denmark on our cruise to the Baltics in June 2019.

Another recent post, entitled Making Connections with Artists & Animals features the cats of French Fauvist Henri Matisse.

Many of the world's most famous artists kept cats as pets. Here's a list:

Henri Matisse (Minouche, Coussi, and Le Puce); Pierre Bonnard (Cat);

Salvador Dali (Babou); Gustav Klimt (Katze); Georgia O’Keeffe (Siamese); 

Pablo Picasso (Minou); Louis Wain (Peter); Andy Warhol (Sam); and

        Wassily Kandinsky (Vaske)

We lost American artist Laurel Burch in 2007. She was famous for her bold cat designs such as those featured in one of her books, Fantastic Felines (1997). I believe we've done a jigsaw puzzle like this.