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.
Save your search and find it in your favorites
Save your search to find it quickly
Saved search
Your search is accessible from the favorites tab > My favorite searches
Unsaved search
A problem occurred
Temps d'orage
René-François Grégogna
Painting - 62 x 42 x 0.3 cm Painting - 24.4 x 16.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,431
Norman (small yellow bear head)
Austyn Taylor
Sculpture - 20.3 x 20.3 x 17.8 cm Sculpture - 8 x 8 x 7 inch
$1,550
Madame Poisson Doré
Dirk De Keyzer
Sculpture - 108 x 77 x 53 cm Sculpture - 42.5 x 30.3 x 20.9 inch
$20,981
Monsieur le Jour, Madame la Nuit
Günter Grass
Print - 50 x 65 x 0.1 cm Print - 19.7 x 25.6 x 0 inch
$656
Tarin des aulnes
François Galoyer
Sculpture - 12 x 11 x 5.5 cm Sculpture - 4.7 x 4.3 x 2.2 inch
$3,815
Une langue qui fait mouche
Thierry Robert
Print - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Print - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$596
Scène de genre avec paysans, vaches et moutons
V. Attanasi
Painting - 36.5 x 61.5 x 2.5 cm Painting - 14.4 x 24.2 x 1 inch
$1,722
The jewel of the river
Gill Bustamante
Painting - 101.6 x 101.6 x 3.8 cm Painting - 40 x 40 x 1.5 inch
$2,963
Gardien de chevaux 1987 Horses Guardian
Guang Jun
Print - 25 x 32.5 cm Print - 9.8 x 12.8 inch
$1,180
The moon is generous
Galia Chuntova
Painting - 35 x 35 x 2 cm Painting - 13.8 x 13.8 x 0.8 inch
$894
My Beloved Business
Esther Oyeyemi
Painting - 81.3 x 71.1 x 2.5 cm Painting - 32 x 28 x 1 inch
$2,250
Coupling in Istropolis
Konstantinos Papaioannou
Painting - 100 x 70 x 0.2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,550
Girl with a Cat
David Popiashvili
Painting - 43 x 30.5 x 4 cm Painting - 16.9 x 12 x 1.6 inch
$1,600
Les deux amis et l'oiseau
Rebecca de Cachard
Painting - 60 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$2,146
The Heart of the Proud Owl (large size)
Inav A. Panov
Sculpture - 53 x 14 x 14 cm Sculpture - 20.9 x 5.5 x 5.5 inch
$1,061
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Vladas Kanciauskas
Sculpture - 39 x 42 x 18 cm Sculpture - 15.4 x 16.5 x 7.1 inch
$3,576
Thread of Companionship
Toheeb Ibrahim
Painting - 76.2 x 76.2 x 2.5 cm Painting - 30 x 30 x 1 inch
$1,550
Mickey Mouse
Juliane Hundertmark
Fine Art Drawings - 75 x 57 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.5 x 22.4 x 0 inch
$2,742
"Polka Dots Rabbit" Tribute to Yayoi Kusama
Yu Deng
Sculpture - 20 x 8 x 8 cm Sculpture - 7.9 x 3.1 x 3.1 inch
$298
King Kong Balls Blanc
Denis Defrancesco
Sculpture - 11 x 25 x 11 cm Sculpture - 4.3 x 9.8 x 4.3 inch
$1,788
Végetaniamals 15
K TD
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 29.7 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 11.7 x 0.1 inch
$715
I Cannot Change My Spots but I Have No Desire to Change My Spots
David Shrigley
Sculpture - 19 x 11 x 12 cm Sculpture - 7.5 x 4.3 x 4.7 inch
$3,874
Trunklestiltskins out and about
Gabrielle Pool
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$635
Sticking to my post
Poren Huang
Sculpture - 33 x 42 x 53 cm Sculpture - 13 x 16.5 x 20.9 inch
$28,400
Continua a volare
Clara Golinelli
Painting - 60 x 70 x 2.5 cm Painting - 23.6 x 27.6 x 1 inch
$2,384
Girl drinking an egg
Kateryna Krivchach
Painting - 80 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$850
The voice of the mountain (tjara nindu)
Filogonio Naxín
Print - 45 x 62 cm Print - 17.7 x 24.4 inch
$894
Farewell to Fremantle
Margarita Voynova
Painting - 80 x 120 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
$1,788
King Pop Black
Monsieur Mollotov
Sculpture - 40 x 24 x 40 cm Sculpture - 15.7 x 9.4 x 15.7 inch
$703
The Mac Chicken
Zo
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$697
Pastorale africaine - Complicité, frères et soeurs
Catherine Clare
Print - 50 x 50 x 2 cm Print - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$715
La Tendresse
Svitlana Loguinoff Gryshko
Painting - 80 x 60 x 4 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.6 inch
$850
The Last Dance (Blue)
Charlotte Parenteau-Denoël
Painting - 46 x 55 x 2 cm Painting - 18.1 x 21.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,419
