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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Categories

Subcategories

Animal

Surreal Composition

Oasis

Vautour pape

Untitled

Deux corbeaux

Jocker

Cheval

Cheval soleil - Sculpture équestre ferronnerie sur peuplier

Origami

Les poissons

Coq

Anital

Le Hibou vert

Leona

Eye To Eye

D.O.G. VI

Les chevaux de bois

HOPE (giclée)

Bucolic Scene

Le Meneur d'ombres

Mon chat

Mistral

Nature

Butterfly

Jour de fête

Sardina (Limited Edition of 8)

Tinta

Pigeon

Horses

The Competition

The Tiger

Balade (version bleue)

Sauvage innocence

Succession

L'Original Jaune

Promenade Matinale

Terra Incognita - Le Grand Canyon

Owlets

Lion of Tudor

Bull of valor

Rat City

Como una mariposa

Sergei Sviatchenko - Capacity For Conjuring Illusion 8

Galloping Horses

Sketch for the Parliament Hall 'Thanatos and the Enigma'

Fragment #4

California Dreaming 8/2AP

Chevaux rouge et blanc

Yin Yang

L'envol

Le musée amusant

Happy Toys

Ladybug after the rain

Koons me

Km 0 I-IV

Conigli arcobaleno

Vallée d'Aoste

Monopoloup II

Chevaux blancs

Big fish II

Coq

Pigeon-Monstera

-You silly, who are you? Why did you come here? -my name is a Sea!

Audrey et Eléphants

Brainpower II, III and I. Triptych

Hidden place