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Cat Fancy

6 artworks from 6 artists across 6 galleries
The tour is ordered to begin from the Michigan Avenue entrance. If you are starting in the Modern Wing, simply do your tour in reverse order.

Pad around the galleries with this tour celebrating our feline friends throughout the centuries.

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  • A bronze lion, deep green and muscular, looks out in the distance from its pedestal in front of the Art Institute of Chicago.

    Lion (One of a Pair, South Pedestal)

    Edward Kemeys

    Michigan Avenue entrance/steps, first level, Exterior

    Iconic guardians of the museum, Edward Kemeys's bronze lions have stood on Michigan Avenue since 1894. An essentially self-taught artist and the nation’s first great animalier (sculptor of animals), Kemeys chose for the Art Institute larger-than-life African lions; the one north of the steps is “on the prowl,” while the one to the south is “in an attitude of defiance."

    "Possibly the most famous cats in Chicago, our guardians underwent conservation treatment in 2023 to uncover the deep green hue you see today. Look closely and you'll see the artist's signature carved into the base."

  • A work made of gold, enamel, and baroque pearl.

    Baroque Pearl Mounted as a Cat Holding a Mouse

    Gallery 238, second level, Arms and Armor Galleries

    This decorative personal object would have been fashionable on several levels in late 16th-century Spain. The flecked white enameling used to depict the cat's fur was used in many similar objects, and baroque pearls enjoyed great popularity for their uniqueness. This piece would have originally been on a chain or a pendant, as evidenced by the three small holes in the cat's ears and by its tail.

    "This centuries old feline was likely used as jewelry which would have made any wearer the cat's meow. Can you spot this fancy cat's next meal caught between its golden paws?"

  • An older man at left in red raises his hat toward a central table chaotically overflowing with dead game, fruits, and vegetables. The wings of dead birds and limbs of animals are splayed out at dramatic angles; a deer at center is suspended by his back legs. Live birds and a cat animate the scene.

    Still Life with Dead Game, Fruits, and Vegetables in a Market

    Frans Snyders

    Gallery 208, second level, Arts of Europe: Painting and Sculpture Galleries

    This overflowing Flemish market stall is enlivened by dead animals splayed on the table, fighting roosters, and a pickpocket. An early example of Frans Snyders’s combination of ornamental still-life elements with secondary figures, this scene might have adorned the dining room of an aristocratic collector. Snyders was the leading Flemish painter of monumental still lifes. He regularly collaborated with his fellow Antwerp artist Peter Paul Rubens.

    "In this scene, a pair of glowing eyes looks out for the perfect moment to run off with a free meal. Can you find them? With the stall owner distracted, we think the sly cat has a good chance of getting away with its caper."

  • Painting of a lively wedding reception with a man in red kneeling in front of a table. The wedding party is dressed in pale pink clothes and seated.

    The Wedding at Cana

    Giuseppe Maria Crespi

    Gallery 215, second level, Arts of Europe: Painting and Sculpture Galleries

    This depiction of the feast where Jesus performed his first miracle is filled with luxurious details and quiet, personal interactions. On the left, Jesus talks with his mother; on the right, the wedding’s astonished host and his servant taste the water Jesus has miraculously turned into wine. The piece brings together Venetian color and grandeur with the close character study popular in Crespi's native Bologna.

    "At first glance you may miss it, but Crespi has given a cat a front row seat to the festive miracle depicted here. Its paws latched onto the cask, this mischievous friend enjoys a prominent place in the scene."

  • A work made of copper alloy.

    Statuette of Wadjet or Sekhmet

    Ancient Egyptian

    Gallery 50, lower level, Arts of Ancient Egypt Galleries

    This seated, lion-headed goddess wears a large sun disk with a serpent whose body trails over the top of her head. Showing remarkable ingenuity, the artists who made this piece ensured the lioness's locks kept with Egyptian fashion. Her traditional wig's front tresses emerge from the ruff of her mane.

    "What cat tour would be complete without a trip to Egypt? We don't know which goddess is depicted here, but one possibility is Sekhmet, a lioness associated with destruction. Like many cats, Sekhmet held multitudes. Sometimes she's a docile house cat."

  • A work made of graphite and casein on panel.

    Juan Soriano De Lacandón

    Leonora Carrington

    Gallery 397, third level, Modern Galleries

    The Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington painted this imaginative portrait of her friend, the artist Juan Soriano, after fleeing war-torn Europe in 1942 and settling in Mexico. In this work, Carrington combined her Surrealist-inspired dreamscapes with Mexico’s history, culture, and ancient practices. She presented Soriano as a revered holy man and used precolonial symbolism that suggests her assimilation into the world of her adopted homeland.

    "Bearing the scarification marks of an ancient Mayan shaman, Soriano is surrounded by the flora and fauna common to pre-Columbian myths. He holds a small jaguar, admired by the Maya as a spiritually powerful creature and a conduit to the underworld."

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