Cat Painting Sells High

The “World’s Greatest Cat Picture” sold for $826,000 at Sotheby’s in November 2015. It is a painting of 42 cats that belonged to Kate Birdsall Johnson, wife of a millionaire. Carl Kahler painted it in 1891 in California. It took three years. The painting was shown at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and became famous. In the 1940s, it was shown on tour in the United States and at the Madison Square Garden Cat Show. It is large, 70 by 101 inches.