Cats in Art: Study of Cats and a Head (Gauguin)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  You really should check out and/or own both of these wonderful works, easily available on Amazon or eBay (and I have no financial interest).

This is the first of a series of posts on the art of Paul Gauguin.

Image credit The Athenaeum, Study of Cats and a Head, Paul Gauguin, ca 1890s, watercolor on paper, 8" x 11", held in a private collection.

 And now a pair of kitty close-ups.  The first seems to be a pose well known to any cat "owner," a cat throwing up.  Note the arched back, the head low to the ground, the fact that the impact zone looks to be carpet rather than a hard surface.

And a better image, this time of a good kitty, just laying there, evidently quite happy to be part of a family.

Bugler notes that cats were a frequent part of Gauguin's paintings:

His work is laden with mystical symbolism, but it is not certain that he intended his cats to hold any particular significance beyond conveying a sense of the reassuringly familiar.

I've featured 3 of Gauguin's works here previously: Eiaha Ohipa, Nativity, and Where Do We Come From?  I agree with Bugler that there seems not to be any hidden meanings in Gauguin's cats, just painting a reassuring object into an image.

[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]