Portrait, the Cat

The painter Yac grew fond of and befriended this Nepalese cat with a tabby coat. The painter was moved, he says, by the cat’s friendly demeanor, its gentleness, and its longing for affection. Yet in seeking to immortalize this animal, Yac depicted not a genre scene echoing with the gentle purring of the household but—whether intentionally or not—the distant genetics of a feline lineage. It is as if the artist had drawn from the immemorial depths of this small feline the wild reality of its distant ancestors. The feline’s glassy gaze—cold and scrutinizing, mysterious and enigmatic—betrays the predatory and wild instinct of this descendant of the Bengal tigers. The fine, airy, and delicate brushwork adds to the dreamlike atmosphere of this portrait.