Many cat portraits depict different cat movements and positions and admiration for the feline’s flexibility.
Cats are undoubtedly the smallest feline but portraying them in various art forms has shown that almost everyone genuinely adores them.
From the famous da Vinci portraits to the Edouard Manet paintings, you will find many cat portraits fascinating.
1. The Famous Cat With Orange Eyes
The famous cat with orange eyes is the painting of Chartreux, which is a scarce cat breed in France with orange or copper-colored eyes.
However, this cat seems to have invaded many art pieces in and outside of France, and you can find the portrait in several public places today.
Chartreux cats are mostly known for their striking orange eyes and smiles. Their head structure and tapered muzzles often become pronounced when they smile or get excited.
In addition to being popular animals on portraits, Chartreux are prominent in literature works like poetry. This is one of the cat portraits that remain relevant till today.
2. Kittens Suspended In Socks
Cats suspended in socks portraits are pretty famous today too. Numerous postcards inspire these portraits.
They have sculpted cats inside outsized polyethylene puss for the celebration of anniversaries like Halloween. It may also signify some pre-school excitement in kids.
3. The Mona Lisa Cat Portrait
This is one of the famous pieces of artistry you will find today. The most famous paintings of this image were made by Thomas Gainsborough and Paul Gauguin, who imposed the picture of a smiling cat on that of Mona Lisa image.
They seem to have studied the movements and positions of the Mona Lisa image on a portrait and decided to replicate such movements with a cat’s face.
4. The Hungry Cat And The Fish Portrait
This cant portrait is another fascinating cat portrait, made popular by famous French realist- Ribot.
The painting depicts a humble kitchen scenery where a cat is patiently waiting to snatch a piece of fish from the basket while the owner seems unaware of it.
The portrait looks so simple yet portrays the love and desperation of a hungry cat to grab the next meal.
5. The Mistress’ Cat By Carl Olof Larsson
The focal point of this painter’s watercolor art is a supple cat that peeps at a mysterious man on a bridge as he approaches the cat’s owner, who happens to be his mistress.
The painting also has an invisible thread that connects the cat’s black coat to the man’s dark head.
One would expect the cat to tug the invisible thread to draw the man’s attention to the woman who had decided to paint the bridge in solitude.
6. The Cat Head Portrait By Georg Baselitz
Baselitz, a German painter, painted a very brutish humanoid cat tormenting a big dog in the portrait.
Though the human-cat being was on the other side of the fence, its massive frame was seen towering over the dog and grabbing its body as if trying to snatch the dog and run away.
The painting expresses the post-Nazi Germany era where movements of people in the divided country were prominent.
7. The 1908 Woman With Cat By Kees Von Dongen
This painting was made by the famous Dutch artist- Kees Von Dongen, and it reveals the mixing of numerous delicate colors.
It shows a woman in a delicate position, tenderly holding her cat, and there is a bow-like curve of the cat’s tail alongside the cat’s long body that blends perfectly with the woman’s headpiece. The highlight of this painting is the harmony created by the painter for all the elements.
8. The Temptation Of St. Anthony
This lovely cat portrait is one of the most erotic art pieces of cat and woman you will likely see.
The picture shows a cat hissing at a woman trying to tempt Anthony- the Hermit, also the father of monasticism, with her naked body.
While the fish in the portrait symbolizes Christianity, the cat’s demonic ears seem to have rendered it useless. The picture could be seen as sensual but religious people will look at it another way, especially with a black cat trying to compete for attention with the naked woman.
9. The Anthropomorphic Cat Paintings By Louis Wain
This is one unique piece of collection on this list, and it is one cat painting you will likely see in many commercials, especially in the United Kingdom.
Louis Wain himself is a commercial artist that was obsessed with cats. He was hospitalized after he suffered mental illnesses in 1924, and since then, his paintings had become hallucinatory. Many of his paintings were also attributed to his worsening Schizophrenia.
Many followers of Louis will remember him for depicting many of his struggles with mental illnesses through his paintings.
10. The Malevolent Cat By Arthur Rackham
Very few paintings have evilly depicted cats, as the vicious paintings of Arthur Rackham. This is a shape-shifting witch that can turn herself into just any animal, including the cat.
She was known to turn virgins into birds before caging them. Arthur used several illustrations to demonstrate his brilliant use of anthropomorphism to grab the attention of his followers.
In this particular painting, you can see a giant black cat transforming from a tree-like structure and sitting on a cage where the witch puts her captives.
Conclusion
Many other cat paintings are worth mentioning, with each having its unique depiction of cats’ characters in so many ways.
The Idleness 2 painting by John William Godward, Sleeping Girl A.K.A Girl with a cat painting by Pierre Auguste Renoir and Suspense by Charles Burton Barber are just a few of the most famous cat paintings worth great prices today.
There is a wide range of behavior or traits portrayed in many paintings. Cat’s love for being cuddled by humans and the instinct to hunt for food are very prominent in most of the portraits in the world today.
The unlikely spiritual aspects of cats are also featured in some paintings.