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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Wild Kong Reloaded
Richard Orlinski
Sculpture - 30 x 24 x 11 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 9.4 x 4.3 inch
$7,500
Ixobrychus minutus II
Lyuben Domozetski
Painting - 20 x 15 x 3.5 cm Painting - 7.9 x 5.9 x 1.4 inch
$597
Blue & Green Sheep
Menashe Kadishman
Painting - 30 x 30 x 2.5 cm Painting - 11.8 x 11.8 x 1 inch
$1,400
La vie en rose... (Origami 2025)
Olivier Messas
Painting - 26 x 26 x 5 cm Painting - 10.2 x 10.2 x 2 inch
$468
Cloned Schnauzer with water bottle
William Sweetlove
Sculpture - 40 x 55 x 23 cm Sculpture - 15.7 x 21.7 x 9.1 inch
$877
Ours pompon silver edition
Richard Orlinski
Design - 12 x 23 x 5 cm Design - 4.7 x 9.1 x 2 inch
$524
Energy of Sunrise...
Olivier Messas
Painting - 50 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,872
Prendre son envol...
Olivier Messas
Painting - 50 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,872
Entangled World
Harutyun Aghajanyan
Painting - 60 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$600
35cm Teddy Lamborghini Tribute, black
Naor
Sculpture - 35 x 25 x 28 cm Sculpture - 13.8 x 9.8 x 11 inch
$760
Les Songes Drolatiques de Pantagruel
Salvador Dali
Print - 85.09 x 81.28 x 2 cm Print - 33.5 x 32 x 0.8 inch
$5,000
Ma chatte est possessive !
Béatrice Terra
Painting - 92 x 73 x 3 cm Painting - 36.2 x 28.7 x 1.2 inch
$2,925
Tête de lion III
Patrick Villas
Sculpture - 63 x 42 x 45 cm Sculpture - 24.8 x 16.5 x 17.7 inch
$23,400
Les yeux du chat
Odile Pinto-Corbin
Painting - 50 x 50 x 3 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 1.2 inch
$1,696
Welcome to the Circus
Baptiste Laurent
Painting - 250 x 180 x 4 cm Painting - 98.4 x 70.9 x 1.6 inch
$6,552
Unicorn II/VII
Gor Avetisyan
Sculpture - 30.2 x 24 x 5.6 cm Sculpture - 11.9 x 9.4 x 2.2 inch
$2,457
Aurum 2
Marco Araldi & Keng Wai Lee
Painting - 42.5 x 35.5 x 4 cm Painting - 16.7 x 14 x 1.6 inch
$1,252
Sans-titre
Vladimir Velickovic
Fine Art Drawings - 38 x 25 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15 x 9.8 inch
$819
Elm Court Fritillary
Hunt Slonem
Painting - 101 x 101 x 3 cm Painting - 39.8 x 39.8 x 1.2 inch
$39,195
Roaring lion, silver edition
Richard Orlinski
Design - 13 x 13 x 5 cm Design - 5.1 x 5.1 x 2 inch
$455
Ours enlacés / Two bears entwined
Sophie Verger
Sculpture - 9.5 x 9.5 x 9 cm Sculpture - 3.7 x 3.7 x 3.5 inch
$1,638
Little Louise and her elephant version 2
Sophie Verger
Sculpture - 7.5 x 11.5 x 5.3 cm Sculpture - 3 x 4.5 x 2.1 inch
$1,287
Petit Tiens Bon / Small Hold On
Sophie Verger
Sculpture - 15 x 26 x 10.5 cm Sculpture - 5.9 x 10.2 x 4.1 inch
$3,276
Little bears with a balloon
Sophie Verger
Sculpture - 29 x 16 x 11 cm Sculpture - 11.4 x 6.3 x 4.3 inch
$2,925
Tête de cheval impressionniste oxyde vert
Martín Duque
Sculpture - 53 x 21 x 30.5 cm Sculpture - 20.9 x 8.3 x 12 inch
$1,498
Sérigraphie fluorescente - Chanoir x el Pez x el Xupet negre
Chanoir
Print - 70 x 50 x 0.005 cm Print - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$643
Bride and Groom
Menashe Kadishman
Painting - 85 x 125 x 3.5 cm Painting - 33.5 x 49.2 x 1.4 inch
$7,600
My French Bulldog loves Rolex and Bitcoins
Patrick Cornée
Painting - 80 x 80 x 3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1.2 inch
$3,744 $3,370
Bride and Groom
Menashe Kadishman
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.4 inch
$6,600
A Warm Welcome, no. V/VIII
Joanna Zakrzewska-Cholewa
Sculpture - 14 x 16 x 8.5 cm Sculpture - 5.5 x 6.3 x 3.3 inch
$1,989 $1,830
Very shine / Tout timide
Sophie Verger
Sculpture - 23 x 10 x 11 cm Sculpture - 9.1 x 3.9 x 4.3 inch
$2,574
Roi lion (plan du métro de Paris)
Fat
Painting - 36 x 64 x 0.2 cm Painting - 14.2 x 25.2 x 0.1 inch
$2,106
My French Bulldog is Happy
Patrick Cornée
Sculpture - 29 x 15 x 37 cm Sculpture - 11.4 x 5.9 x 14.6 inch
$2,574
Le York de Jean-Paul
Camille Hilaire
Fine Art Drawings - 10 x 14 cm Fine Art Drawings - 3.9 x 5.5 inch
$351
Cloned gold Penguin with pet bottle
William Sweetlove
Sculpture - 148 x 65 x 77 cm Sculpture - 58.3 x 25.6 x 30.3 inch
$14,040
