Love Cats? See These Paintings

I'll be honest, I don't like cats. I don't hate them either. For me, they are in the sweet spot of emotional dissonance.

Before you start judging me, I have my reasons. Hear me out.

I once had a nightmare that a cat had scratched my face. For some reason, this was a recurring dream in my adulthood.

If you belong to the majority, you probably adore them.

Ancient Egyptians viewed felines as sacred, placed them alongside their gods and goddesses. Cats were found in carvings, paintings and most notably on tomb engravings. They were even mummified like humans.

Cats are also the "unofficial mascot of the Internet" (and Medium too).

Let's deep-dive into 8 cat paintings and admire their different faces illustrated by artists throughout art history - charming, weird, devilish, playful, and nightmarish.

1. The Bachelor's Party by Louis Wain (1939)

A playful living room portraiture. Isn't it?

Louis Wain was obsessed with cats. As his life progressed, the chubby and playful cats took a more abstract and intricate form, "a psychedelic one".

What prompted him to make a "psychedelic version of the Cheshire Cat"? Read here.

In this portraiture, the cats are humanized. An array of expressions are reflected through their eyes - surprize, somber, grumpy and pensive. They are enjoying drinks with cigars. Two of them also pose with their monocles.

2. By Day She Made Herself Into A Cat by Arthur Rackham

Here's the devilish cat - an illustration by the British artist Arthur Rackham for the story ''Jorinda and Joringle' from 'Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm' where the cat is a shape-shifting witch.

3. The Cat's Lunch by Marguerite Gérard

Another mesmerizing artwork by a French woman artist. The subject has a charming aura with beautiful locks. What makes it adorable is the way she is feeding her cat on an ottoman. The dog is literally craving to be in the cat's position.

4. Cat Catching a Bird by Picasso (1939)

Here, the cat is caked with mud and holding a bird in his jaws. The color palette is dark and accentuates the sharp, white monstrous claws and glowing eyes of the cat. The ears of the cat resemble horns. The bird is severely wounded and the cat chews her damaged wing.

Picasso painted this when Franco's authoritarian regime came under the Spanish belt. He was going through personal turmoil as his mother passed away. The personal and political upheaval made him anthropomorphize the cat and made it look wicked. Symbolically, the bird's wound might be either of Picasso or what was soon-to-be Europe.

5. Paris through my window by Marc Chagall (1913)

Cats were an integral part of Chagall's drawings. He either camouflaged them in his depictions or featured them as is. In Paris through my window, vivid colors spread through the sky. Chagall's parachutist might refer to the first successful jump off the top of the Eiffel Tower that occurred in 1911 and the fact that a Russian inventor was the creator of the first workable parachute.

Did notice the human face of the yellow cat alongside an upside-down railroad train?

6. Julie Manet with cat by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1887)

Yes, you guessed it right.

Julie Manet was in fact related to the famous artist Édouard Manet. She was his niece. Since her childhood, Julie became a muse to famous French painters.

The French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir gave a soothing and charismatic tone to this portrait.

Julie is dressed up in a golden white dress. Her rosy cheeks and a charming aura that we all are drawn to. She is embracing a kitten.

Her dress perfectly blends well with the furs of the kitten.

7. White Angora Cat Chasing a Butterfly by Jean-Jacques Bachelier (1761)

The first thing I did when I saw this painting - googled Angora cats and their physical traits.

The Turkish Angora is beautiful, fluffy and has semi-feral ancestry. They might become upset with sudden touch or change in the environment.

This portrait shows an Angora cat pouncing on a butterfly.

8. Raminou by Suzanne Valadon (1920)

Suzanne Valadon was a French painter. She was an ardent cat lover and often painted her cats, especially her favorite, the fat Raminou. The cat gazes at the viewer with somber looks and sits on a crumbled pile of clothing.

Which is your favorite cat painting?

References:

1. 15 Cats in Art History Every Cat Lover Would Love

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