6 Famous Artists Who Loved Cats

Cats are mysterious four-legged creatures that many people around the world adore. According to legends, they have nine lives and can steal babies’ breaths. Famous artists like Louis Wain, Henri Matisse, John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Karl Lagerfeld, Gustav Klimt, and Salvador Dali all had cats at some point in their lives. Read on to learn more about these famous artists and their pets.

Henri Matisse loved animals dearly and had three cat companions called Minouche, Coussi, and La Puce. Minouche—Coussi and La Puce’s mother—was a very petite gray cat. Coussi was a striped cat, while her sister La Puce was all black. Matisse particularly enjoyed the company of his furry friends once he began losing some of his mobility. During the last decade of his life, he was either constricted to a wheelchair or a bed. This was in part due to his constant battle with cancer. All three of Matisse’s cats would join him when he resided at the Hotel Regina in Nice. While in the hotel, Matisse would work on his designs in bed with his cats sitting at his feet.

2. Salvador Dali and Babou

The famous Surrealist Salvador Dali was known for his eccentric taste. Dali adopted a Colombian ocelot, which he named Babou. Colombian ocelots are not the most sociable cats and they can be highly territorial. However, this did not stop Dali from taking Babou with him everywhere he went. From luxury cruises upon the SS France to bejeweled collars, Babou got to experience a luxurious lifestyle.

Adopted in 2011 by Karl Lagerfeld, Choupette has become one of the most iconic cats in pop culture. When Choupette’s previous owner, French model Baptiste Giabiconi, went on vacation he took the cat to Lagerfeld’s home and left her with his staff. At this point, Choupette was just a kitten, and Lagerfeld fell immediately in love with her. When Giabiconi came back, Lagerfeld told him that he was keeping it.

Since Lagerfeld’s passing in 2019, there have been rumors that Choupette became worth millions after inheriting Lagerfeld’s fortune. The famous designer was a very private person. He never really talked much about his life, but he did love to talk about Choupette. He described his cat as peaceful, funny, fun, and gracious. He also said that Choupette helped him become a nicer person.

Lagerfeld and Choupette became inseparable during the late years of the designer’s life. Just like Salvador Dali, Lagerfeld took his pet everywhere. Choupette’s food was made by renowned chefs and served in Goyard dishes. Anything from Japanese-style beef to chicken gelée with asparagus was served to Karl’s cat. Choupette even had maids, a personal driver, and a social media manager. Before Lagerfeld’s death, the maids had to write down what the cat did throughout the day. Once Lagerfeld came back home, he would read these diary entries.

The 2023 MET Gala featured a theme called Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty and Choupette was officially invited to the event. During the gala, many celebrities celebrated and recognized the amount of influence the cat had on Lagerfeld. For example, Jared Leto wore a Choupette-like cat costume, while Lil Nas X came beaded in diamonds from head to toe with whiskers and long cat-like nails. The singer Doja Cat also morphed herself into a cat using prosthetics.

Well known for his masterpiece The Kiss, Gustav Klimt had many cat companions. Klimt had multiple studios and had many feral cats living around these locations. He would eventually bring the stray cats inside and even name some of them. During a studio visit with Klimt, Arthur Roessler was stunned at how Klimt allowed these cats to roam freely. Roessler commented that the animals would walk all over his artworks and lay on them. Cats would also be allowed to fight and play while standing on the paintings, too, causing pieces of artworks to get ripped and scratched.

5. Andy Warhol and Sam(s)

Warhol’s cat addiction started when he received a Siamese cat from Gloria Swanson. This cat, named Hester, would live with Andy and his mother at their Carnegie Hill Townhouse. Andy later got a cat called Sam so that Hester wouldn’t get too lonely. From then on, the artist would call all of his feline companions Sam.

Warhol supposedly kept all his cats because he could profit from breeding them. The Siamese breed was booming in the United States because of its fancy reputation. But Warhol’s breeding business did not boom since his cats behaved badly and inbred. However, this did not stop Andy from loving them.

The famous artist was even inspired to create artworks featuring cats. He went on to create a limited edition lithography series called 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy. Warhol worked with his mother, Julia, on the calligraphy for the series. Julia accidentally left out the d from the Name in the title. Enamored by this mistake, the Pop artist left the title as it was. Unsigned lithographs from this series now go for up to $12,500. In 1957, Julia and Andy worked together again on yet another series featuring cats titled Holy Cats.

John Lennon was a known cat lover. Lennon’s first cat was named Elvis Presley, even though it was female. During his childhood, the famous musician would have Elvis and two other cats, Sam, named after British diarist Samuel Pepy, and Tich. While living with his aunt Mimi, John found a marmalade-colored half-Persian stray cat in the snow whom he would name Tim. John would even ride his bike to the local fishmonger to get food for Tim.

Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, also owned two cats, Mimi and Babaghi. Mimi was named after Lennon’s aunt, who raised him. In total, John and Cynthia had ten cats during their time together.

During his later years with the Beatles, Lennon would get a cat named Jesus. The cat was most likely named this way due to his controversial statement about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus. Allegedly, Paul McCartney also had a cat named Jesus and two others, named Mary and Joseph. In the mid-1970s, May Pang, the studio receptionist Lennon was having an affair with, brought him a box of kittens. The singer immediately protested against adopting these cats as they traveled too much. However, he started to pet the kitten and eventually gave in and adopted two cats that he called Major and Minor.

During his marriage with performance artist Yoko Ono, Lennon adopted multiple cats. A black cat and a white cat aptly named Salt and Pepper were some of their first. However, Salt was the black cat, and Pepper was the white cat. Ono and Lennon also owned two Russian Blue cats named Gertrude and Alice. Sadly, both cats met tragic ends. Gertrude ended up contracting a virus that was hazardous to their son, Sean. John would eventually have to euthanize Gertrude due to the virus. He would later comment that he wept and held her as she was euthanized. The other cat, Alice, would jump out of an open window in their apartment and plunge to her death. Sean was there during the sad event and remembers it as the only time he saw his father cry.

After this, John would own three more cats named Sasha, Misha, and Charo. He would also make sketches of them. After his death, these illustrations were colored and sold as serigraphs.