God I hope I am immortalised by my husband for having 40 cats
Fun facts:
It cost $5,000 in 1888 to have this painting made, which is more than $120,000 in today’s money.
I say 1888 because it took three years for Kahler to complete, reportedly because he spent most of the time studying and sketching each cat to get a feel for their personality.
It was painted for Kate Johnson, the title was her husband’s idea though, proving him the most patient and good-humored husband in the history of crazy cat ladies.
Speaking of cat ladies, the picture actually contains 42 cats. Or more specifically, Mrs. Johnson’s 42 most favorite cats. She had 350 in total.
It sold at auction via Sotheby’s a few days ago for over $800,000 dollars, vastly more than its $200,000-$300,000 estimate.
The buyer is a private collector in California.
Probably someone who really, really likes cats.
I mean, really likes cats.
I love that every cat in this picture has a name i dont know. In fact, a name i will never know. Each was loved dearly by someone who knew their names. And now they are immortalised in this painting. Its just so lovely
I’m so impressed by Carl Kahler’s dedication to capturing cat personalities. Understandable, though, because do they ever have personality…
Happy Caturday! Christmas tree season is fast approaching. We know that for some of you it’s already here. Your cats are looking forward to it too, though perhaps not for the same reasons. They’re less interested in festive ambiance and presents than pawing at shiny ornaments, pulling off the garlands and lights, and climbing that tree like it’s their own sparkly, evergreen fort.
Bored Panda assembled an awesome collection of creatively pet-proofed Christmas trees. These photos are just the tip of the very merry iceberg.
My cats understand and will obey a number of verbal commands, one of which is “go away”. I don’t use it often, but if they’re bugging me and I’m trying to work or doing something that could be dangerous for cats, I can tell them to go away, and off they go – they’ll only keep pestering me if there’s a serious problem they need me to look at.
That said, their idea of a serious problem that requires my attention is somewhat eccentric. Previous instances have included:
There was an unfamiliar car parked across the street
Their water bowl was four inches to the left of its usual position
One of them had puked on the stairs and they didn’t want to walk past it
It was raining
One of them saw a weird bug
These are all very important things that required your attention. They’re doing a good job.
Dogs really aren’t much better. I teach all my dogs the command “show me”. How it works is if the dog needs something but I’m having trouble understanding what exactly they’re trying to tell me, I say “show me” and they lead me to whatever the problem is. Usually they lead me to a real problem (like a toy that got stuck under the couch, their water bowl is empty, etc). But sometimes they want me to fix things like this-
They pulled the covers off my bed and now they want me to put the covers back
They put their ball on top of the ottoman but the ottoman won’t throw it for them
The cat is sleeping and won’t chase them
A flower fell off the potted plant
The cat is sitting in a box and they don’t like it
One of them lost their bandana
The cat won’t take the toy they’re trying to give her
The cat DID take the toy they gave her and now they want it back