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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Print, Le cirque, Sakti Burman

Sakti Burman

Print . 54 x 76 x 0.1 cm Print . 21.3 x 29.9 x 0 inch

€400

Print, Cygne, Graham Sutherland

Graham Sutherland

Print . 73.5 x 50.5 x 0.1 cm Print . 28.9 x 19.9 x 0 inch

€2,000

Print, Noise, Ravi Zupa

Ravi Zupa

Print . 61 x 46 x 0.1 cm Print . 24 x 18.1 x 0 inch

€150

Print, Une de Mai, Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali

Print . 78 x 120.5 x 0.1 cm Print . 30.7 x 47.4 x 0 inch

€9,912

Print, Sad Cat, Karel Appel

Karel Appel

Print . 62.2 x 81.9 x 1.3 cm Print . 24.5 x 32.25 x 0.5 inch

€2,255

Print, El Printos, Ceet Fouad

Ceet Fouad

Print . 50 x 50 cm Print . 19.7 x 19.7 inch

€400

Print, Tiger, Rebecca Whitewood

Rebecca Whitewood

Print . 30 x 25 x 2 cm Print . 11.8 x 9.8 x 0.8 inch

€1,900

Print, Shark Pool, Blank Barbie

Blank Barbie

Print . 76 x 51 x 0.01 cm Print . 29.9 x 20.1 x 0 inch

€1,200

Print, Black Swan, Oli Epp

Oli Epp

Print . 25 x 28 cm Print . 9.8 x 11 inch

€400

Design, Panther, Richard Orlinski

Richard Orlinski

Design . 9 x 20 x 3 cm Design . 3.5 x 7.9 x 1.2 inch

€345

Print, Untitled, Leonor Fini

Leonor Fini

Print . 32 x 24 x 0.1 cm Print . 12.6 x 9.4 x 0 inch

€600

Print, Soother, Brett Crawford

Brett Crawford

Print . 19.7 x 19.7 x 2 cm Print . 7.8 x 7.8 x 0.8 inch

€8,975 €7,629

Print, Deja Vu, 1.10, James Ulmer

James Ulmer

Print . 76.2 x 55.9 x 2.54 cm Print . 30 x 22 x 1 inch

€5,863 €4,984

Print, Monte Perdido, Hugues Micol

Hugues Micol

Print . 63.3 x 85.2 x 0.1 cm Print . 24.9 x 33.5 x 0 inch

€350

Print, Ant, Julia Zabrocka

Ant

Julia Zabrocka

Print . 28 x 39 x 1 cm Print . 11 x 15.4 x 0.4 inch

€271

Print, Monkey, Jacques Monory

Jacques Monory

Print . 65 x 50 x 1 cm Print . 25.6 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch

€390