Somehow Picasso's cats always look more conventional than Picasso's women, even when they are together as in a canvas labeled Dora Maar with Cat. Early in his career Picasso was painting cats, such as 1901's "Crazy Woman with Cats," . A series of cat and bird canvases like, Wounded Bird and Cat ( 1938) don't ease the heart of ornithologists. And though our list is not meant to be comprehensive, it is nice to see the late date on "Lobster and Cat "(Le homard et le chat): January 11, 1965. This note from an auction catalog is interesting:
The subject of the lobster and cat refers to one of the most beloved paintings of French art, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin’s The Ray (1728, Musée du Louvre, Paris). In both paintings, a cat is aroused to vicious hissing by the menacing aspect of an item of seafood that is as delicious to the palate as it is horrendous to the eye.
The subject of the lobster and cat refers to one of the most beloved paintings of French art, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin’s The Ray (1728, Musée du Louvre, Paris). In both paintings, a cat is aroused to vicious hissing by the menacing aspect of an item of seafood that is as delicious to the palate as it is horrendous to the eye.
The comment is interesting but probably inaccurate; my guess is that the look of fear the cat exhibits is actually an extreme stage, a wild look, from feline stalking behavior.
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