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.

Search by Image

Save your search and find it in your favorites

16/100 1 10 14 15 16 17 18 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Categories

Subcategories

Animal

Blue Bunny

Bull

From child's album

Sans titre - Encyclopédie Vagabonde

Cabourg 2025

Unicorn

Leopardi

Drôle de ville

Champs de chants

Le poulpe

Sans titre

Cheval n°2

Merles

Shadow tiger

Lazy man with dog

Ant Ceramic Sculpture - Pink

Comtesse PiouPiou

Introspection #5

Histoire de femmes 4 - Estampe

Untitled

La Piel Del Jaguar

White nurse

Party on the boat

Merging with nature

The Paradox of Evolution (giclée)

Sans titre

The Man and His Horse

Danse tribale

Composition

Adamo ed eva

Butterfly or Breast

Woman With Parrot

Capitoline wolf

Cubist Woman

Woman With Horse

Course of love

Habiter un corps (louve)

Nos bêtes

Patience

Pénéloppe

Band of love

Les flamants roses

Furtivité féline

Migration d'éléphants

L’évolution profonde

Cheval Cubiste de Guernica Bois

Cheval Cubiste de Guernica

Pixelated Horse

Two Tigers on Green

Still Life

Purple Spell

Charity

Bird Catcher I

Les oiseaux voyageurs

Sheep Flock

Vermeer

Pompon Bear comme une excuse

A bird

Animales

Angels

Bises Bee

Félin jouant

Colonel Moutarde

Oiseau et Étoile

Mars

Tendres messagers