--- title: "Cats in Art" date: 2026-08-06 last_modified: 2026-08-26T11:20:06+02:00 generated_at: 2026-08-28T17:52:52Z url: "https://www.schirn.de/en/schirnmag/katzen-in-der-kunst/" description: "Venerated and vilified, observed and admired: There is virtually no other animal that has captivated artists over the millennia quite like cats. To mark International Cat Day, we follow the felines through 15 works spanning over 3,000 years of art history – from Egyptian tomb paintings to Leonor Fini to Vladimir Dunjić." image: "https://www.schirn.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Schirn_Presse_Fini_Sonntag-Nachmittag_1980_c_Warren-H.-Lortie-Collection_Weinstein-Gallery-1498x1920.jpg" language: "en-US" --- # Cats in Art ![Surreal image with cats and human figures in soft colors, arranged floating on a shelf.](https://schirn.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Schirn_Presse_Fini_Sonntag-Nachmittag_1980_c_Warren-H.-Lortie-Collection_Weinstein-Gallery.jpg) Leonor Fini, Dimanche aprés-midi, 1980, oil on canvas, 129,5 x 97,2 cm Warren H. Lortie Collection, Newport Beach © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026, Weinstein Gallery # Cats in Art 1 min reading time Venerated and vilified, observed and admired: There is virtually no other animal that has captivated artists over the millennia quite like cats. To mark International Cat Day, we follow the felines through 15 works spanning over 3,000 years of art history – from Egyptian tomb paintings to Leonor Fini to Vladimir Dunjić. Art history has depicted cats roaming through temples, dozing on windowsills, sneaking through studios, and resting on beds. They have been venerated and vilified, observed and admired. They have appeared at times sacred, sometimes eerie, as companions or little mysteries. There is virtually no other animal that has captivated artists over the millennia quite like cats, so to mark International Cat Day we follow the felines through 15 works spanning over 3,000 years of art history – from Egyptian tomb paintings to Leonor Fini to Vladimir Dunjić. 1 ## Cat from the Tomb of Nebamun Ancient Egypt (ca. 1350 BC) It all begins with a cat in the reeds. It creeps through the papyrus thicket, its gaze fixed firmly on its prey. What looks like a hunting scene speaks of much more than nature: In Ancient Egypt, cats were revered, and they were closely associated with Bastet, the goddess of protection, fertility, and joy. Here, the cat appears not as a pet, but as a being with its own power – close to humans and yet entirely independent. ![](https://www.bmimages.com/pix/aes/misc/00228264001_p.jpg) Cat from the Tomb of Nebamun, Ancient Egypt, ca. 1350 BC Image via [bmimages.com](https://www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?image=00228264001) 2 ## English Bestiary (ca. 1250) A goddess becomes an enigma. In medieval Europe, the image of the cat shifts: The once-revered being becomes a creature that is both fascinating and unsettling. In bestiaries, it appears as a skilled hunter, yet at the same time as a symbol of cunning and deception. Later, it gains associations with witchcraft and demonic powers. Cats become a canvas onto which ideas can be projected – and remain so to this day. ![Illustrated scene with animals: a tomcat with a birdcage, a dog, and a sleeping animal, set against a blue background.](https://schirn.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/heim-1.jpg) Illustration from an English bestiary, ca. 1250 Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 764, fol. 51r 3 ## Leonardo da Vinci Study of a Child with a Cat (1478–1481) Anyone who has ever tried to keep hold of a cat can relate to this scene. The child clutches the animal, but the cat wriggles free from its grasp. Da Vinci captures not just a movement, but a character. The animal remains headstrong, independent, and keeps entirely to itself. ![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Leonardo_da_Vinci%2C_object_1857%2C0110.1_-_recto_%28British_Museum%29.jpg/960px-Leonardo_da_Vinci%2C_object_1857%2C0110.1_-_recto_%28British_Museum%29.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) Leonardo da Vinci, Study of a Child with a Cat, 1478–1481 Image via [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Study_for_the_Madonna_of_the_Cat) 4 ## Francisco de Goya Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga (1790) Sometimes the crucial element lurks in the background. The boy holds a magpie on a string, while behind him three cats wait motionless for their chance. They watch, poised, lying in wait. Suddenly, the mood of the painting shifts. The cat serves as a reminder that beneath even the most peaceful surface, something unpredictable may lie dormant. ![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Manuel_Osorio_Manrique_de_Z%C3%BA%C3%B1iga_por_Goya.jpg?utm_source=de.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original) Francisco de Goya, Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga, 1790 Image via [upload.wikimedia.org](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Manuel_Osorio_Manrique_de_Z%C3%BA%C3%B1iga_por_Goya.jpg?utm_source=de.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original) 5 ## Édouard Manet The Cats’ Rendezvous (1868) The night belongs to cats. High above the streets, two of them meet on a rooftop. Whether they are courting each other, circling each other warily, or simply crossing paths remains open to interpretation, and it is precisely this ambiguity that makes Manet’s etching so vivid. In the 19th century, the cat became a symbol of a kind of freedom that can neither be captured nor explained. ![](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/752c8b28-5873-2ddb-f7cd-6ea9e4766195/full/843,/0/default.jpg) Édouard Manet, The Cats’ Rendezvous, 1868 Image via [artic.edu](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/68825/the-cats-rendezvous) 6 ## Pierre-Auguste Renoir Julie Manet with a Cat (1887) The cat has arrived. No longer in a temple, no longer in a bestiary, but languishing contentedly in a child’s arms. Renoir depicts Julie Manet with her cat in a moment of quiet intimacy. The creature need not symbolize anything; its mere presence speaks of closeness, comfort, and a daily life in which the cat has long since found its rightful place. ![](https://cdn.mediatheque.epmoo.fr/link/3c9igq/kfv1bvf6ejd0l9c.jpg) Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Julie Manet with a Cat, 1887 Image via [musee-orsay.fr](https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/artworks/julie-manet-100382) 7 ## Xu Gu Cat and Butterfly (late 19th century) Not every cat tells the same story. While in Europe the cat often moves smoothly between seduction and danger, in Chinese painting it presents us with a different symbolism. It fixes its gaze on a butterfly. In Chinese painting, this is more than a fleeting encounter: Both motifs represent good fortune, harmony, and a long life. ![](https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api/collection/v1/iiif/49467/2206142/main-image) Xu Gu, Cat and Butterfly, late 19th century Image via [metmuseum.org](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/49467) 8 ## Franz Marc The White Cat (1912) Never wake a sleeping cat. Franz Marc’s white cat is fast asleep – curled up in its own little world, untouched by everything happening outside the picture. Marc’s aim was not to see animals through human eyes, but rather to make their own reality visible. His cat thus becomes a counterpoint to a world that is growing ever louder. ![](https://assets.museum-digital.org/san/images/201912/die-weiSse-katze-15242.jpg) Franz Marc, The White Cat, 1912 Image via [st.museum-digital.de](https://st.museum-digital.de/object/15242) 9 ## Balthus A Portrait of His Majesty the King of Cats (Le Roi des Chats) (1935) Some artists paint cats; others want to be one. In “Le Roi des Chats,” Balthus portrays himself as a mysterious, almost mythical figure – proud, alert, and independent, just like a cat. Here, the creature is not merely a subject; it is an alter ego. ![](https://www.mcba.ch/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2016-048_BALTHUS_num4000_em-1536x2464.jpg) Balthus, A Portrait of His Majesty the King of Cats (Le Roi des Chats), 1935 Image via [mcba.ch](https://www.mcba.ch/de/collection/der-koenig-der-katzen/) 10 ## Andy Warhol 25 Cats named Sam and One Blue Pussy (1954) Before the soup cans, there were cats. Many of them are named Sam, and they all look pretty similar. Together with his mother, Julia Warhola, Andy Warhol created an artist’s book full of humor, affection – and cats that seem just as quirky as their real-life counterparts. ![](https://arthive.com/res/media/img/oy800/work/9ab/603381.webp) Andy Warhol, 25 Cats named Sam and One Blue Pussy, 1954 Image via [arthive.com](https://arthive.com/de/andywarhol/works/549025~25_Katzen_namens_Sam_und_ein_blaues_Ktzchen#google_vignette) 11 ## Leonor Fini Dimanche Après Midi (1980) Cats call the shots. The Argentine-Italian artist Leonor Fini, to whom the SCHIRN is dedicating a [major solo exhibition](https://www.schirn.de/en/exhibition/leonor-fini/) this fall, lived at times with more than twenty cats. In her paintings, they are far more than just pets: They meet humans as equals – observing, accompanying, and resisting any attempts at domination. “Animals help us. They possess powers and qualities that we have forgotten \[…\]. It is only natural that we feel an enormous longing \[for animals\], great respect, and great admiration,” wrote Fini. Perhaps that is why her cats are not mere secondary figures, but central guardians of her surreal world. ![Surreal image with cats and human figures in soft colors, arranged floating on a shelf.](https://schirn.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Schirn_Presse_Fini_Sonntag-Nachmittag_1980_c_Warren-H.-Lortie-Collection_Weinstein-Gallery.jpg) Leonor Fini, Dimanche aprés-midi, 1980, oil on canvas, 129,5 x 97,2 cm Warren H. Lortie Collection, Newport Beach © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026, Weinstein Gallery 12 ## David Hockney Mr. and Mrs. Clarc and Percy (1970–1971) Sometimes a cat reveals more about a relationship than two people do. While Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell are notably distant from one another in the painting, Percy the cat appears calmly in the foreground. He is like the calming presence in the painting, almost as if he were the true protagonist. Hockney makes the cat a silent mediator – and shows that pets often embody precisely the closeness that is absent between people. ![](https://arthive.com/res/media/img/oy800/work/956/178840.webp) David Hockney, Mr. and Mrs. Clarc and Percy, 1970–1971 Image via [arthive.com](https://arthive.com/res/media/img/oy800/work/956/178840.webp) 13 ## Edward Bawden Emma Nelson by the fire (1987) The cat can be just a cat. In Edward Bawden’s interior, she sits quite naturally by the fireplace. No allegory, no omen, no divine apparition – simply a fellow occupant of the home. After centuries of projections, here the cat becomes something much more ordinary. And perhaps for precisely that reason, something all the more familiar. ![](https://www.tate-images.com/media/t04920-Emma-Nelson-by-the-Fire.jpg) Edward Bawden, Emma Nelson by the fire, 1987 Image via [tate-images.com](https://www.tate-images.com/media/t04920-Emma-Nelson-by-the-Fire.jpg) 14 ## Owen Smith Jilted (N/A) Cats can appear quite offended. Owen Smith turns this into a whole story. His cat looks as if she’s just received some bad news – or as if she’s deliberately keeping us in the dark. ![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5ba008_18082ed1d12a4a2db570d4993a07e34a~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_794,h_981,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/5ba008_18082ed1d12a4a2db570d4993a07e34a~mv2.jpg) Owen Smith, Jilted, N/A Image via [owensmithart.com](https://www.owensmithart.com/?lightbox=dataItem-mi6m0ffa) 15 ## Vladimir Dunjic The Queen of Cats (2018) In the end, the cats are back where it all began: in the realm of myths. Vladimir Dunjić depicts them as the majestic companions of a female figure – somewhere between fairy tale, dream, and reality. The scene evokes ancient goddesses and surreal imagery. More than 3,000 years after the cat in Nebamun’s tomb, one thing here remains unchanged: Cats cannot be tamed – nor can they be interpreted with any certainty. They remain, as they always have been, a mystery on four paws. ![](https://vladimirdunjic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Kraljica-macaka01_02_2024_0571-scaled.jpg) Vladimir Dunjic, The Queen of Cats, 2018 Image via [vladimirdunjic.com](https://vladimirdunjic.com/1317-2/#masonry)