Meee‑ow — we’ve tried to round up our affectionate and furry four-legged friends, these cute house cats are obviously valued for their companionship — from snuggling to being a source of entertainment, to even manipulating us with their unique language and their contented purrs. It’s an interesting fact that meowing is a vocalisation just for us, cats don’t actually meow at each other so they use this as a bond between humans and animals.

As we know, the cat shares the title with the dog as the world’s most popular companion animals, however as the saying goes… “dogs have owners, cats have staff”… so the perennial question is “do cats love us or just tolerate us”, either way, their owners loved them enough to capture them with their own unique personalities for us to enjoy today.

ARTWORK STORIES: Delve into QAGOMA’s Collection highlights for a rich exploration of the work and its creator

Visit both the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art to see how many cats and their wild counterparts you can find… and keep an eye out for their lifelong partner, the dog. The exhibition ‘Michael Zavros: The Favourite’ which includes The kitten and Acropolis now closes 2 October 2023.

On display

Michael Zavros ‘The kitten’ 2016

Michael Zavros ‘Acropolis now’ 2023

Watch | Find the cat from the ‘Acropolis now’ mural

Harriet Jane Neville-Rolfe ‘Breakfast, Alpha’ 1884

From the QAGOMA Collection

Chinese Style ‘Mandarin pocket’ 1800-1900 

Norman Lindsay ‘Cats’ 1919 

Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel ‘Sleeping cat’ 1920s 

Tsugouharu Foujita ‘Self portrait with cat’ 1930

Kathleen Shillam ‘Cat’ 1950s-60s

Kathleen Shillam ‘Siamese cat’ 1960s

Robert Dickerson ‘Cat at the window’ 1976

Inga Hunter ‘Wallhanging: Cat in a peach tree’ 1980

Elliott Murray is Senior Digital Marketing Officer, QAGOMA

ARTISTS & ARTWORKS: Explore the QAGOMA Collection

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