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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Subcategories

Animal

40cm Tif Tribute, Teddy Bear

35cm Teddy CH Tribute, Chrome White

Messenger of love and life

Silver Howling Wolf

Composition

Lost in Thoughts

Bois de feu

La force

Paysage 609

Fou de Bassan

Black birds, bright bird

Fleur 19

Fruits

Bird

Paysage 505

Oiseau

Scène de corrida

Oso de Oro

Cloned Schnauzer with water bottle

Cloned Schnauzer with water bottle

Metamorphosis

Tête de Cheval

Wild Kong baril tag mate

Panthère taguée mate

Les mouettes

Wild Kong tag brillant

Six elephants and a girl

Parrot

Crocodilia

Les reflets bleus... (Origami 2025)

Croco Red

Ronron et chat ailé

M.Chat Golden

Dragon II

Faster, horses!

Horse racing.

Mirror panther on black

Les oiseaux dans la neige

Flying Maria

Scarface - The World is Yours - Tony Montana - Silver Edition

Cobra

Untitled (with dog)

N° 183

Grace and Power Under Pressure (Blue)

Tête pensive

L'Envol

Cloned Schnauzer with water bottle

Nature Collection No. 3

A Colorful Pond

Pikachu résine tag 40 cm

BIche en automne

Dragon

Falcon

Hippocampe

Crocodile EA III/IV

Festival Iminente

Blue Spider

Walking Crystal Clear Wild Bear

Walking Silver Wild Bear

Hippopotamus

Red Hippopotamus

Elephant

Silver Crocodile

Silver Horse

Red Horse

Léopard au repos