Cats & Dogs
Featuring 250-plus works, NGV Australia's adorable exhibition agrees that there's no such thing as too many pet pictures.
Overview
Are you a cat person or a dog person? Alongside whether or not you're a fan of pineapple on pizza, pet preference is one of humanity's great dividing factors. Some folks love the unconditional affection that a barking bestie brings. Others thrive on the contented purrs of a meowing mouser sitting on their lap. Whichever camp you fall into, here's something that even the most-avid pup proponents and feline fanciers can agree on: that an exhibition dedicated to both cats and dogs, charting their place in art, design and human history, is a delightful must-see.
Cats & Dogs is that showcase, giving NGV Australia in Melbourne's Federation Square one of its big summer highlights. It's a great time to be an art lover in the Victorian capital, or visiting the city, with all things Yayoi Kusama taking over NGV International and beyond — and also this thoughtful and adorable exhibition bringing joy via more than 250 cat- and dog-focused works at the Ian Potter Centre until Sunday, July 20, 2025.
If your camera roll demonstrates your firm belief that there's no such thing as too many pet pictures, consider this the wide-ranging display that understands, then illustrates that idea — literally — via art. Pieces by Rembrandt van Rijn, Francisco de Goya, Pierre Bonnard, David Hockney, Jeff Koons, Hulda Guzmán, Atong Atem, Charles Blackman, Grace Cossington Smith and Nora Heysen are among the works featured, spanning both international and Australian artists. And yes, because cats and dogs don't always get along, the exhibition places dog pieces on one side and cats on the other.
For plenty of pet lovers, you could hang all the pictures in the world of cats and dogs in a gallery and it'd instantly become a cherished art experience, but NGV International has arranged its showcase thematically to dig into what these two types of cute creatures mean to us. Using works from the NGV Collection, it explores subjects such as working dogs and cats, how the two pets feature in mythology and the occult, and their significance in religion and spirituality. So, expect cattle dogs, superstition-inspiring black cats and everything in-between,
Also included in a display that ranges from ancient history to today: a survey of cats in popular culture. And if thinking about moggies and art gets you thinking about Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen's 1896 Chat Noir art nouveau poster, the recent acquisition by the NGV is part of the exhibition.
Paintings of cats and dogs, prints of cats and dogs, drawings of cats and dogs, photos of cats and dogs, sculptures of cats and dogs, fashion featuring cats and dogs: they're all covered, as are textiles and decorative arts heroing the two critters. Other specific highlights include Atomicus, the surrealist photography by Philippe Halsman with Salvador Dalí pictured next to flying cats; Thomas Gainsborough's two-metre-high oil painting Richard St George Mansergh-St George, focusing on a soldier and his hound; Atong Atem's 2022 self-portrait Maria of Mars, complete with a lapdog earning atttention; pieces by First Nations artists, such as wooden carvings of camp dogs by Far North Queensland's Aurukun artists; and fashion by Alexander McQueen, Romance Was Born and others.
Do you know in your bones that your own cat or dog belongs in the same company? There's a pet portrait gallery, too, where attendees can share images of their own pets.
Images: Installation view of Cats & Dogs at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from 1 November 2024 to 20 July 2025. Photos: Eugene Hyland and Tom Ross.
Information
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