Inspiration and Feline Aesthetics

I had the pleasure of hearing my longtime friend Gloria Groom lecture today at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Gloria (officially Dr. Groom, the senior curator at the Art Institute of Chicago) spoke about her most-recent internationally acclaimed exhibition, Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity. If you're someone as supremely gifted as Gloria, you don't stop producing after a big hit. Now she's on to Van Gogh, and surely Gloria will inspire us anew.

I wonder if Gloria would consider enlightening her Cat Lady comrade by commenting on a fascinating feline phenomenon: why do cats like Van Gogh's paintings? Pictures prove that cats have often been inspired to create their own variations on a Van Gogh theme or subject, such as sunflowers.

This image is taken from the book Why Cats Paint, which another dear friend, Linda, found for me at Pegasus Books in New Zealand.