These New Cat and Art Mash-Ups Are Purrrfect for Fall

Christie Chu August 26, 2015 ShareShare This Article

Photo: courtesy of the artist/ Thames & Hudson.

Fans of cats and art, Thames & Hudson has a book you’re going to love.

Cats Galore (September 2015) is a compendium of paintings by Susan Herbert of “cultured cats”—kittens placed in the context of Western film, music, and art history. While it may not be the most novel idea, the British painter captures the mood of each of the original works so eloquently that we can’t help but be enamored.

Herbert’s portraits are mash-ups of images of the domesticated feline with more familiar iconic images like Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503), Manet’s Olympia (1865), and Johannes Vermeer’s 17th century work Girl with the Pearl Earring.

Over 320 pages, these fantastical scenes are grouped into aptly-named sections including “Pre-Raphaelite Cats,” “Movie Cats,” “Opera Cats,” and “Shakespeare Cats,” in which Herbert interprets scenes from the Bard’s plays Othello, Henry V, and Romeo and Juliet, among others.

Photo: courtesy of the artist/ Thames & Hudson.

For film buffs, the “Cats in the Movies” section has reinterpretations of Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965), Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964), and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra (1963).

Who wants to pre-order this book right meow?