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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Animal

Oiseau pirogue

Les Oiseaux de Feu

Taureau 5

Deeply connected

A Lovely Serenade Of Summer

Carpet Moth 2

Jeune Cerf

Bird

Horse of Time

Happy style

Série: Animaux - Tableau No 2

Black Leopard #2

Rabbit, Trasure-Trove

Aurum 6

Sculpture Chien Arty

Monde Africa

L'ourse et ses deux oursons

Tiger graf'

Les copines

Roe Deer

Turtle Rolls-Royce

Reptile 2

Small dog - Bouledogue

RoboCat pink

Le poisson pirate

Fly#3

Two Panthers

Cheval vert II

Composition

Prenons nos rêves pour des réalités

An Unlikely Pair

Vol au Martin

Lady bird

Transition

Les suricates - Blue

Interior with vintage dresser

Tête de Lion 3/8

Dynamic goose

Le voleur de vin

Birds

This Eager Guy

Robe noir

Wild life 1

Cat Mechanimal (silver) AP

Takashi Murakami × ComplexCon Mr.DOB Figure by Bait × Switch Collectibles (Gold Edition)

Il était une fois dans l'ouest - série Bande dessinée

Lost in Thoughts

Teddy Silver (Medium)

Indomptable

Migrations - Portrait d'oiseaux et paysage imaginaire

Grandes vacances

Europe mythologie Femme

A Moment Of Rest

Cow on Red (L)

Chameau

Végas pop art star wars

L'éphémère en lumière

Vitale

Minimalist Cat & Bird Chase – Contemporary Abstract Oil Artwork

Sans titre

Pop art puzzle

Dardo I green

Dinosaur of Jeju island

Coeur Camargue

One love

Mésange bleue