The Portland Art Museum is thrilled to announce that the greatest cat painting ever made is now on view. Carl Kahler\u2019s My Wife\u2019s Lovers <\/em>is a massive painting commissioned by San Francisco philanthropist Kate Birdsall Johnson in 1891. The 6-by-8.5-foot canvas, which features 42 of the millionaire\u2019s beloved cats, was seen at the 1893 Chicago World\u2019s Fair, survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and now makes a stop in one of the cat-friendliest cities in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My Wife\u2019s Lovers<\/em> was commissioned by San Francisco millionaire Kate Birdsall Johnson (1833\u20131894) to commemorate her fabulous collection of 42 Persian and Angora cats. She met the artist and world traveler Carl Kahler in 1890, shortly after he arrived in California from Australia, where he had earned fame painting portraits and horse racing scenes. Johnson persuaded him to portray her beloved pets and he spent months studying them in preparatory sketches and paintings. In the finished composition, he depicted the cats larger than life size.\u201cCarl Kahler\u2019s cat painting is a truly monumental homage to the species,\u201d says Dawson Carr, Ph.D., The Janet and Richard Geary Curator of European Art.At the painting\u2019s center is the pride of the collection, a magnificent Persian named Sultan, who was purchased in Paris for a huge sum. Around him, outstanding individuals and family groups are depicted from virtually every angle and with a wide range of personality traits. Kahler enlivened the scene with anecdotal details, such as the cats stalking a moth and, of course, much playful feline interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The painting was not titled My Wife\u2019s Lovers<\/em> by Johnson\u2019s husband, the iron and hardware heir Robert C. Johnson, who had died two years before, in 1889. According to Carr, it seems likely that he coined the expression to refer to the cats and that his widow adopted it for the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe painting has inspired a number of absurd legends,\u201d says Carr. \u201cIt has been erroneously reported that Johnson had as many as 350 cats and that she left them $500,000 in her will. In fact, there were never many more animals than those depicted here. Johnson left a modest amount to a relative for their maintenance. Her principal bequest established a hospital for disadvantaged women and children in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The artist perished in the earthquake of 1906. His painting survived that disaster, and in 1949, Cat Magazine<\/em> lauded it as \u201cthe world\u2019s greatest painting of cats.\u201d The painting most recently sold at a Sotheby\u2019s auction in November 2015. It is on loan to the Portland Art Museum by its new owners, John and Heather Mozart of Northern California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Art and cat lovers have awaited the painting eagerly, with social media hashtags such as #meowsterpiece<\/em> and #purrtlandartmuseum<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Museum is partnering with the Oregon Humane Society on a series of pop-up events in support of the painting, and to raise awareness about cat adoptions at OHS and other area shelters. In addition, visitors to the Museum can pose with a cutout version of the painting in a photo booth during the Museum\u2019s weekly $5 Fridays (5-8 p.m.).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Overview The Portland Art Museum is thrilled to announce that the greatest cat painting ever made is now on view. 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