It sold at Sotheby’s on Tuesday for 6,000.
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The painting, called My Wife’s Lovers, ended up being 6 feet by 8.5 feet and so heavy that Sotheby’s had to build a special wall to display it, CBC reports.
Felines are now making a move to take over the art world, a huge cat painting featuring dozens of cats sitting still sold for nearly $1 million. But the artist, revered for his race horse works, had never painted felines before. Things however changed when he met the art collector Kate Johnson.
Johnson, who it’s safe to say was the ultimate cat lady, lived with her furry friends on a 3,000-acre farm near Sonoma during the turn of the century. She was a millionaire and she had this giant mansion.
Johnson reportedly owned 350 cats – so the impressive piece of artwork represents only a percentage of her beloved pets.
“So, for three years he spends time with the cats in the mansion doing sketches”. And then in and around 1893, he does their portrait.
Sartori said Kahler likely sketched the cats individually before working on the painting.
“My Wife’s Lovers” by Carl Kahler depicts 42 cats in multiple states of repose.
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Though the buyer of the work is unknown, we think it’s probably safe to assume they’re a cat person.
