Animal
Animals are often featured in news, sometimes in heartwarming tales of human and animal companionship and other times in heartbreaking stories of illegal trade and endangered species. Animals are even present in social sciences, especially thank to ethology (behavioural sciences of animals in their natural habitat). They have fascinated philosophers from Antiquity all the way through to today and they are even present in the medical realm, as the benefits of animal-assisted therapies have been scientifically proven.
The relationship between humans and animals is also taken into account in the politics, most notably when debating topics related to ecology, the protection of ecosystems and sustainable development. Thus, animals might be seen as a crucial indicator of humanity's concerns.
As well in these many sectors, animals are also very much present in the arts. A number of art museums have decided exhibitions to animals including the Cluny Museum in Paris and MoMA PS1 in New York. Whether simply a humble spectator in an 18th century painting or the central subject of a Courbet painting, animals are present throughout the history of art. From symbolic, to esthetic, to abstract, to animal drawings meant to simply record their appearance...all these representations have played a role in influencing artists and also how we characterise and think of individual animals.
Each civilisation has represented the animal on multiples supports (mosaics, metal, stone, bones, etc.) as seen on the Nerja cave wall paintings in Andalusia discovered in 1925. Animal iconography has had multiple purposes, varying according to the era and place. Bats, for example, are often used to represent death, fear or superstition in Western art, whereas the Chinese see them as a sign of happiness. The omnipresence of animals within cultures across the globe is probably down to the similarities between men and animal, a source of both fascination and fear.
In this selection, Artsper helps you to discover the beauty of the animal kingdom, its diversity, strength and fragility. Artists depict animals in a huge range of mediums: sculpture, painting, photographs, and drawings. Contemporary artists bring an original and poetic vision to their representations of the animals with whom we share our world.
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Soft-Eyed Sheep
Menashe Kadishman
Painting - 80 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
€3,959
Battements... (Origami 2023)
Olivier Messas
Painting - 36 x 36 x 2 cm Painting - 14.2 x 14.2 x 0.8 inch
€600
My kitten is a rapper
Patrick Cornée
Sculpture - 26 x 20 x 12 cm Sculpture - 10.2 x 7.9 x 4.7 inch
€2,300 €2,070
Born Wild Black Panther
Richard Orlinski
Sculpture - 70 x 148 x 32 cm Sculpture - 27.6 x 58.3 x 12.6 inch
€27,000
Joyful dotted Monstrum
Viktor Zuk
Sculpture - 23 x 13.5 x 11 cm Sculpture - 9.1 x 5.3 x 4.3 inch
€550
The great escape... (Origami 2025)
Olivier Messas
Painting - 50 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
€1,600
From Hump to Hump
Sophie Verger
Sculpture - 59 x 68 x 21 cm Sculpture - 23.2 x 26.8 x 8.3 inch
€8,500
The Stronger of the Two
Sophie Verger
Sculpture - 26.5 x 48 x 15 cm Sculpture - 10.4 x 18.9 x 5.9 inch
€5,200
The Horse that Wanted Revenge on the Stag
Salvador Dali
Print - 59 x 79 x 0.1 cm Print - 23.2 x 31.1 x 0 inch
€1,350
Paris, Place Vendôme Ritz
Chris Morin-Eitner
Print - 80 x 60 x 0.2 cm Print - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
€180
Climate Clash - (Cream)
Shepard Fairey (Obey)
Print - 60.96 x 60.96 x 0.2 cm Print - 24 x 24 x 0.1 inch
€500
Cloned Bouly with shoes
William Sweetlove
Sculpture - 29 x 35 x 15 cm Sculpture - 11.4 x 13.8 x 5.9 inch
€1,400
Cloned Bloodhound with Backpack
William Sweetlove
Sculpture - 57 x 30 x 37 cm Sculpture - 22.4 x 11.8 x 14.6 inch
€2,200
Cloned Griffon Bruxellois With Pet Bottle
William Sweetlove
Sculpture - 40 x 40 x 18 cm Sculpture - 15.7 x 15.7 x 7.1 inch
€1,400
Cloned Griffon Bruxellois with Pet Bottle
William Sweetlove
Sculpture - 40 x 40 x 18 cm Sculpture - 15.7 x 15.7 x 7.1 inch
€1,400
Unrealized dream
Karen Akhikyan
Sculpture - 37 x 14 x 15 cm Sculpture - 14.6 x 5.5 x 5.9 inch
€1,365
Me and the elephant
Karen Akhikyan
Sculpture - 31 x 14 x 12 cm Sculpture - 12.2 x 5.5 x 4.7 inch
€1,229
The Bear Wants you to Stop Fighting
Teppei Ikehila
Painting - 33 x 33 x 3 cm Painting - 13 x 13 x 1.2 inch
€600
Sans titre, Bajo el mismo mar serie
Baptiste Laurent
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 40 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
€800
A plate, from Les Songes drolatiques de Pantagruel
Salvador Dali
Print - 76 x 56 x 0.1 cm Print - 29.9 x 22 x 0 inch
€3,680
Zebulun, from Twelve Tribes of Israel
Salvador Dali
Print - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Print - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
€4,860
Le Cerf se voyant dans l'eau
Salvador Dali
Print - 76 x 57 x 0.05 cm Print - 29.9 x 22.4 x 0 inch
€2,000
L'Eléphant et le Singe de Jupiter
Salvador Dali
Print - 57 x 76 x 0.05 cm Print - 22.4 x 29.9 x 0 inch
€2,000
Sheep With Red Drinking
Menashe Kadishman
Painting - 30 x 25 x 2.5 cm Painting - 11.8 x 9.8 x 1 inch
€1,360
Dentelle Panther
Richard Orlinski
Sculpture - 38 x 80 x 17 cm Sculpture - 15 x 31.5 x 6.7 inch
€56,700
Unicorn II/VII
Gor Avetisyan
Sculpture - 30.2 x 24 x 5.6 cm Sculpture - 11.9 x 9.4 x 2.2 inch
€2,100
La vie est belle
Tarek
Fine Art Drawings - 37.5 x 23.4 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 14.8 x 9.2 x 0 inch
€550
N° 1240 Lac de Tibériade. Do-Beïtenou.
R. Cavalié
Painting - 55 x 46 x 2 cm Painting - 21.7 x 18.1 x 0.8 inch
€540
Nu abstrait N°23 - Monstera palace Pièce N°6
Aurélie Trabaud
Painting - 45.5 x 29.5 x 0.1 cm Painting - 17.9 x 11.6 x 0 inch
€680
