Cats for millions: 6 paintings with purrs, sold at auctions for fabulous sums

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Modern art connoisseurs pay tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars at auction for Picasso's cubic women, for Malevich's Suprematist compositions, for Kandinsky's abstract painting. However, there are canvases in the art of painting, for which collectors are also willing to pay a considerable sum. These are paintings depicting cute cats that have become favorites of many people. This review contains the top 6 the most expensive paintings with cats sold at world art market auctions.

Since ancient times, artists have often turned to the images of cats, cats and kittens, depicting them on their canvases. We are not accustomed to seeing them in the paintings: independent and graceful, soft and affectionate, narcissistic and insidious, cute and wild, stunningly realistic and similar to people. And since cats from prehistoric times have always lived next to people, few of the artists bypassed them with their attention.

6th place: Jan Faith (1611-1661). "Still life with a hare, game and a cat" - $ 221,000

The Dutch painter and printmaker Jan Fyt lived in the 17th century and painted so-called hunting still lifes depicting animals and birds. His paintings are realistic and detailed, very colorful and harmonious, and the plots are taken from the hunting life. On his canvases, the artist mainly depicted game, hounds and greyhounds. The artist also paid attention to the cats.

The canvas "Still life with a hare, a game and a cat" depicts the prey of a hunter and a cat-thief pulling his paw after a killed bird. This painting was sold for 221 thousand US dollars at Sotheby's.

5th place. Henrietta Ronner-Knip (1821-1909). "Playing Kittens" - $ 429,000

Dutch animal painter Henriette Ronner-Knip began painting at the age of 5, and by the age of 6 she became a diligent student of her father. And very soon she had to become his indispensable assistant, as her father began to go blind very quickly and could not write down small details. And from the age of 16, she already took care of the daily bread for their large family on her own.

At the beginning of her creative career, Henrietta painted mainly landscapes and still lifes. But then animals began to appear on her canvases. She gave preference to dogs, and when a cat appeared in the artist's house, she enthusiastically began to draw her and cute pussies. And these pictures brought in a very good income. Henrietta had solid customers among the royal families of Portugal and Belgium.

Her painting with a mother cat and frolicking kittens was sold at an art auction in 2006 for 429 thousand dollars to an unknown buyer.

By the way, a miniature painting on a tree with dimensions of 11 x 10 centimeters "Curious kitten", painted in 1893, went from auction in 2009 for 29 thousand dollars.

4th place. Liu Ye (born 1964). Meow - $ 601,000

Representatives of contemporary Chinese art undoubtedly today occupy a significant place in world culture. For example, the artist Liu Ye from Beijing draws animated pictures with a little strange plots. Some of his works resemble illustrations for children's books, while others are made in the style of abstract art. All the artist's work is focused on the emotions of the master himself, on the inner perception of the world around him.

One of the most expensive of his creations was the painting - "Meow", depicting a girl with a kitten. The plot of this work is very strange, but this did not prevent it from being sold at an art auction for 601 thousand dollars.

3rd place. Andy Warhol (1928-1987). Cats and Dogs (Broadway) - $ 701,000

Andy Warhol is a renowned American artist and founder of commercial pop art, a prominent figure in the history of the pop art movement and contemporary art in general. At one time, for many years, Andy was the center of the New York art scene, despite the fact that in life he was a very closed person.

But the artist had a passion for cats, which he adored immensely. They said that Warhol systematically got Siamese cats, which were full in his house, and he called all of them indiscriminately Samami. Warohol often made sketches of his favorites in static poses, as moving objects were difficult for him. Later, these sketches became illustrations of the famous album "25 cats named Sam and one blue cat", published in 1954.

But the most expensive creation of Warhol on a cat theme was the painting "Cats and Dogs (Broadway)", which was sold at Sotheby's for 701 thousand US dollars.

2nd place. Karl Kahler (1855-1906). My Wife's Lovers - $ 826,000

A huge canvas with 42 cats depicted on it belongs to the brush of the Austrian artist Karl Kahler (Carl Kahler). In 1891, a wealthy lady and a big cat lover Kate Birdsall Johnson wanted to immortalize her pets on a huge canvas. More than 300 cats lived in her mansion in California, but only forty-two of them were honored to remain in history. The artist spent 3 years writing this canvas.

In 2015, a painting weighing 100 kilograms and very impressive dimensions: 2.6 meters in length and 1.8 meters in height was sold for 826 thousand dollars to a buyer who wished to remain anonymous.

The original price of the lot was 500 thousand dollars. Interestingly, due to its heavy weight, the organizers of the auction could not attach it to the wall. They had to build a special structure for this exhibit.

1st place. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Dora Maar with a Cat - $ 95,200,000

The undoubted leader in this top is the work of the brilliant Picasso - "Dora Maar with a Cat", created in 1941 and dedicated to the French artist and her mistress. This is one of the most unusual portraits of Pablo Picasso's beloved and muse, Dora Maar. The work is made in the style of abstract art and carries the artist's inner experience about the upcoming break with his beloved woman after 9 years of relationship.

The relationship between the two creative personalities was full of irrepressible passion and contradictions, and apparently for this reason Pablo portrayed Dora in the form of solid corners and broken lines and, moreover, very unattractive. And on the back of the chair on which Dora sits, we see a cute little black cat, or rather her silhouette. By the way, the artist's muse did not like cats, but Picasso portrayed a cat as a symbol of the tumultuous relationship between them.

This canvas was included in the ten most expensive paintings in the world, as it was sold for an incredible amount of 95, 2 million US dollars in 2006.

Pablo Picasso himself did not favor pedigree cats, but he always treated the homeless and homeless with sincere sympathy. - recalled the statements of the artist, his colleague Brassai. Such he wrote in his cat series, which includes the paintings "The cat grabbing the bird", "The cat devouring the bird", "The cat and the lobster."

This is such a huge amount of money admirers of art are willing to pay for paintings with cats. And looking into the history of painting, we can be convinced that these cute creatures have captivated a huge number of masters, from antiquity to the present day.

Amazing paintings by the Dutch animal painter Henrietta Ronner-Knip depicting the touching pussies, on which she spent 30 years of her life in review.