Celebrate International Cat Day with Art by Renoir, Gauguin, Manet, and More
While cats of the ancient world may be most closely associated with Egypt, it is actually the island nation of Cyprus that claims the oldest evidence of cat domestication, discovered at a 9,500-year-old burial site.
Humanity’s long history with our feline friends has made them a common subject in art. Whether on the walls of an ancient Egyptian tomb or in an Alexander Calder doodle, cats have captured our imagination for centuries, appearing in different mediums and styles, but always with that signature, enigmatic cat style: equal parts regal and mischievous, adorable and mildly threatening.
To celebrate International Cat Day, we’ve collected some examples of cats in art from museum collections across the country. Even if you don’t consider yourself a cat person, we hope you enjoy!
A Cat Curled Up, Sleeping, ca. 1861. Edouard Manet (French, Paris 1832–1883 Paris). Graphite, on ivory-colored paper. : Bequest of Clifford A. Furst, by exchange, 1995, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995.493
Learn more about A Cat Curled Up, Sleeping by Edouard Manet
Cat and Kittens, c. 1872/1883. Artist unknown, American 19th Century. Oil on millboard. Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, National Gallery of Art
Learn more about Cat and Kittens
Auguste Renoir. Woman with a Cat, c. 1875. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin E. Levy, National Gallery of Art
Learn more about Woman with a Cat by Auguste Renoir
Needlepoint Rug with Cats and Toys (ca. 1880). Artist unknown. Wool yarn and burlap. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
Learn more about Needlepoint Rug with Cats and Toys
Thomas Eakins, American, b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1844–1916. Mrs. Thomas Eakins's Cat (c. 1880-1890). Photograph. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966
Learn more about Mrs. Thomas Eakins's Cat by Thomas Eakins
Paul Gauguin. Still Life with Cat, c. 1899. Watercolor on cream laid paper, laid down on cream Japanese paper. Gift of Helen Tieken Geraghty in memory of Dr. and Mrs. Theodore Tieken, Art Institute of Chicago
Learn more about Still Life with Cat by Paul Gauguin
Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen. Winter: Cat on a Cushion, 1909. Lithograph in 6 colors (red, ochre, yellow, black, gray-brown, brown) from two stones, with scraping on stone, on ivory wove paper. The Charles Deering Collection, the Art Institute of Chicago
Learn more about Winter: Cat on a Cushion by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen
The Cat, 1900s. Christopher Nevinson (British, 1889–1946). Aquatint and etching; sheet: 40.1 x 25.5 cm (15 13/16 x 10 1/16 in.); platemark: 17.6 x 13.6 cm (6 15/16 x 5 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Malcolm L. McBride 1948.433
Learn more about The Cat by Christopher Nevinson
Cat with Tomato Plant. Alternate Title: Tomato to neko. Takahashi Hiroaki (Japan, 1871-1945). Japan, August, 1931 Prints; woodblocks. Image: 20 1/16 × 13 7/8 in. (50.96 × 35.24 cm) Sheet: 20 7/8 × 14 13/16 in. (53.02 × 37.62 cm). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Felix Juda (M.73.37.407), Japanese Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Learn more about Cat with Tomato Plant by Takahashi Hiroaki
Nellie Mae Rowe, Big Cat, ca. 1980, ballpoint and felt tip pen on paper, sheet and image: 20 1⁄2 in. × 30 in. (52.1 × 76.2 cm) frame: 27 1⁄2 × 37 1⁄4 in. (69.9 × 94.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and the American Women’s History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, 2021.29.3
Learn more about Big Cat by Nellie Mae Rowe
