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

La barque de SA'AM

Promenade dans la forêt

The strength of spirit

Enfant nomade

Pilgrimage of Hope

Songbirds Spring

Panthère noire

T'as eu ce que t'as eu

King Kong

Winter is coming

Kleine pup met krulstaartje (Small pup with curly tail)

Bicharracos

L'envole I - préchauffage

The Breakfast of the Goddess

Cavalier

Histoire naturelle

Sans titre

Victoria crowned pigeon 2

On the way home

Nautilus

Cambodge, Prey Nup, Bantei Prey, jeune fille

Sans titre II

Rallumer la forêt

Chanoir x Reese

Bull 2

Hija de la luna

Animal Painting #018-1632

Untitled 1

N°19047 Pieta 1

Merengue

Tiger tamer

Dolly dans les nuages

Etude d'Elephant V

Grand étirement

Distrait

Le chêne à trois troncs n°22

Jaguar head

Red lion Hermes

Cui-Cui

My Singing Bird

Dream World

St. Giraffe and the Easter chick

La méduse

Perros de piedra I A

Gorilla and Hummingbird

Love cats

Péché Mignon

Fantasy

Petit chat d'arrêt

Corrida de Rejón

Together again

Falling Stars Les pids des reves- Tom & Jerry

Nature morte au violoncelle

Mini Misty

Le retour de l'Alpha (Tigre)

Dream

Puzzle Janvier L'attente

Pin & Pan n°3

Oiseau

À Table

Laure retour de match

Rooftop Life

Coral fish

In the silence

Cerf IX

Toro study