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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Animal

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Corne d'abondance 3

Corne d'abondance 2

Corne d'abondance 1

Hippodance

I love London By Night - Red

Showing Off Hoping For A Gig

I Love London By Night

Hippohome

Vortex

La croupe de Léda

Evening Stroll

Camel Hill

Relativity

Equilibrium

Untitled

St Leger Retro Revival

Passereaux trépassés 9 : Fauvette à tête noire 4

Passereaux trépassés 8 : Merlette

Passereaux trépassés 7 : Rouge gorge

Passereaux trépassés 6 : Fauvette à tête noire 3

Passereaux trépassés 5 : Martinet noir

Passereaux trépassés 4 : Fauvette à tête noire 2

Passereaux trépassés 3 : Fauvette à tête noire

Passereaux trépassés 2 : Sittelle

Big Fish

Gorille

Hennessy

Hippodrome de Deauville

L'oeil de la Nature

La Mouche - The Fly

La chat sur le divan

Le chat blanc

Sculpture Shetani homme et animal

Tigre

La fleur et l’oiseau

Le doux félin de l’été

Femme au divan rouge

Femme tropique

Aurore

L’oiseau des songes

Femme diurne

Soleil cou coupé II

Amapola

Toine Assise

Adam´s Apple

Les oiseaux

Cosmogonie

Reciprocity 2

Bird chante

Bird 13

Bird 12

Bird 11

Bird 9

Bird 8

Bird 7

Bird qui fait la sièste

Bird qui regarde

Bird qui sourit II

Bird qui attend

Bird sourit

Toro de Oro

Taureau

Dragon Spirit

Timeless Equestrian Elegance Sculpture

Le chat