Auction rooms love animals. From a cat perched on Picasso’s muse to Franz Marc’s crystalline foxes and George Stubbs’s faithful hounds, animal paintings have set remarkable records. Here’s a concise, collector-friendly guide to the priciest animal paintings ever sold — across all animals, cats, and dogs — and the stories behind them.
- Overall (featuring an animal): Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar au Chat (1941) — $95.2M (Sotheby’s New York, 3 May 2006).
- Animal-centric (animal as main subject): Franz Marc, Die Füchse (The Foxes) (1913) — £42.6M / ~$56.7M (Christie’s London, 1 Mar 2022).
- Dogs: George Stubbs, Portrait of a Newfoundland Dog, the property of H.R.H. the Duke of York (c.1803) — ~$3.6–$3.7M (Sotheby’s London, 24 Nov 1999).
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Cats (cat-only canvas): Carl Kahler, My Wife’s Lovers (1891) — $826,000 (Sotheby’s New York, 3 Nov 2015).
Note: Picasso’s record-holder includes a cat but is primarily a human portrait; Kahler’s is a dedicated “all-cats” scene.
All Animals — Who holds the overall record?
The crown (animal featured): Picasso’s Dora Maar au Chat, $95.2M
In 2006, Dora Maar au Chat (“Dora Maar with Cat”) set a towering benchmark when it sold for $95.2 million. The work is a portrait of Picasso’s muse with a small black cat — proof that even a supporting feline can help anchor an all-time result. Restitution-era provenance, star power, and rarity converged to propel this record.
Animal-centric high: Franz Marc’s The Foxes, £42.6M (~$56.7M)
For a painting where animals are the main subject, Franz Marc leads the modern record with Die Füchse (The Foxes). Its angular facets and blazing color compress the energy of wildlife into a crystalline modernist totem — a once-in-a-generation masterpiece whose £42.6M result reflects both quality and a complex 20th-century provenance.
Quick definitions: Overall (animal featured) counts any major work where an animal appears (even within a portrait or interior). Animal-centric means the creature(s) are the clear subject of the composition.
Cats — From Picasso’s shoulder companion to a 42-cat epic
Highest price for a painting featuring a cat: Picasso’s Dora Maar au Chat, $95.2M
As above, Picasso’s portrait — with its poised miniature cat — holds the top spot where a cat appears within the composition. The cat’s presence may be small in scale, but symbolically it’s potent: watchful, electric, and impossible to ignore.
Highest price for a cat-only canvas: Carl Kahler’s My Wife’s Lovers, $826,000
Commissioned in 1891 by California heiress Kate Birdsall Johnson, this monumental six-by-eight-foot tableau gathers 42 cats into a single theatrical scene. When it roared back at auction in 2015, it fetched $826,000 — a record for a dedicated “all-cats” painting and a case study in scale, story, and sheer feline charisma.
Dogs — Stubbs’s faithful champion
Highest price for a dog painting: George Stubbs’s Portrait of a Newfoundland Dog, ~$3.6–$3.7M
George Stubbs — the supreme animal painter of Georgian Britain — set the benchmark for canine canvases when his nearly life-size Portrait of a Newfoundland Dog sold in London in 1999 for roughly $3.6–$3.7 million. Monumental scale, royal association (H.R.H. the Duke of York), and Stubbs’s unmatched naturalism combined to make this the dog to beat.
Fresh momentum: The Spanish Pointer (Stubbs), £1.8M in 2024
Prices for great canine pictures remain lively. In December 2024, Stubbs’s The Spanish Pointer — possibly his earliest dog portrait — achieved around £1.8 million at Sotheby’s London, underscoring sustained demand for best-in-class dog paintings.
Why these works soar: five drivers of value
- Artist significance: Blue-chip names (Picasso, Marc, Stubbs) set the ceiling for animal subjects.
- Subject clarity: Iconic species (foxes, pedigree dogs, characterful cats) read instantly on a wall.
- Provenance & restitution: Documented histories — especially restituted works — can unlock competitive bidding.
- Scale & condition: Large, pristine canvases dominate rooms (and auctions).
- Rarity within the oeuvre: Singular examples (earliest dog by Stubbs; peak-period Marc) excite connoisseurs.
From auction room to your room
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FAQ
What counts as “the most expensive animal painting”?
Two ways to count: overall (any major painting where an animal appears — e.g., Picasso’s Dora Maar au Chat) and animal-centric (the animal is the clear subject — e.g., Marc’s The Foxes).
Do sculptures like Koons’s Balloon Dog qualify?
No — this list is about paintings. Koons’s famous Balloon Dog (Orange) set records for sculpture but is a different category.
Are records changing?
Yes. Restitution breakthroughs and fresh-to-market finds can reset benchmarks. As of , the figures above reflect widely reported public auction results.