Breaking Mews: History’s Finest Artworks Inspired By Fat Cat

By: Kelli Brinegar
For more than five years, Kelli Brinegar has been using her ability to write and her passion for research to tell the tale of what cats are thinking and why. She has provided care to more than 30 cats in her lifetime.Read more
| January 10, 2020

Oh, how cats inspire us.

From print to paint, cats have been muses for humans since the dawn of their cohabitation.

Zarathustra the Cat is no exception, inspiring his mom to uncover the original versions of some well-known artwork. From some of humans’ first expressions of art to the pop phenomena of our time, Svetlana shows the world the beauty of art when a cat provides the creative revelation.


@FatCatArt/Instagram

Zarathustra and Svetlana met in 2008 after the death of Svetlana’s mother. The ginger cat helped her through the depression that found her afterwards, showing Svetlana his artistic spirit and renewing hers in the process.

Here, the pair reenacts Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring as redone with a ginger tabby…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

In 2011, the pair debuted the Fat Cat Art project because Zarathustra told his mother, “Paint me like these French girls…”

On Bored Panda, Svetlana wrote, “So I do.”

And we are so happy she does…

Any Masterpiece is Better with a Cat

When asked about this Starry Night original version, the pair wrote VanGogh’s critics commented, “Vincent, come on, your stars are so fat!”


@FatCatArt/Instagram

Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss was really about a man’s love for his tabby cat…

 
@FatCatArt/Instagram

Sing to me of shrimp, Melozzo da Forli…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

The Lady and The Unicorn plus a fat kitty cat the Lady so loved. She couldn’t resist showing the uni-kitty and unicorn how handsome they looked within her gilded mirror…

@FatCatArt/Instagram

“Thus speaks Zarathustra the Cat”, a cat must feast like a king…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

“God tried to create Zarathustra the Cat” and Michelangelo immortalized the magical moment for all ages…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

All way back in 100 B.C., Alexander the Great learned, “Only a good fat battle cat can bring you the victory!”…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

36 views of Mount Fuji, no 11 captures the feline horror that came upon a tea house after a snowfall. Catzilla the Fat…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

Botticelli knew true beauty in his original version of The Birth of Venus


@FatCatArt/Instagram

William-Adolphe Bouguereau painted The Abduction of Psyche and the Fat Cat, but purrhaps it should have been titled “When You Date A Cat Lover”…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

Edvard Munch knew the cause behind Zarathustra’s scream, “Shrimpies, where are you-u-u?”…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

Vincent van Gogh, once again inspired by the Fat Cat plus Irises, learned tabby cats are disastrous for flowers…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

“Mona Lisa’s smile is a mystery no more!” Her secret is finally revealed, she loves fat cats whether they like it or not…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

From Ancient Works To Pop Culture, Fat Cats are the Way

Ancient Egyptians worshiped cats, even learning the nuances of hunting from the divine Fat Cat. Proof was uncovered in the tomb of Nebamun…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

The history they don’t want you to know: “The Bayeux Tapestry, true 23rd scene, 1070 AD⁠
The embroidered caption on the tapestry says: ‘Harold made an oath to Duke William: “I swear I will provide a bigger chair for your cat”’ 😻⁠
But he did not. Thus, the Battle of Hastings followed, and Normans invaded England”…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

#FatCatArt creates “The Purrsistence of Cats’ Meowmory” featuring Zarathustra melting.”…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

Zarathustra and his brother, David Bowie, are cleaning out the dogs…


@FatCatArt/Instagram

In a sweet note of parting, Zarathustra says, “Hark! Let me serenade thee at 3 in the a.m.”…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsWUu15n3LD/

As Zarathustra’s namesake said, “Happiness comes to them who bring happiness to others.” If this is the case, then Zarathustra must be the happiest cat around.

Feature Image: @FatCatArt/Instagram