Artistic encounters: How animals inspire contemporary artists

Artists turn to animal motifs to balance the pictorial space, depict a multitude of emotions from danger or despair, to create a portal to the strange or the uncanny, or to evoke a sense of illusion. It is both a reflection of our connection to nature as well as a symbol of the fact that we have moved so far from the natural world. The themes may differ but in each of these works, animals serve as a muse for artists.