World's largest cat painting sells to mystery buyer for $826,000

A painting of cats by Austrian artist Carl Kahler.
(Image credit: CBC News/Twitter)

There is a high rolling cat lover somewhere in New York — one that paid several times the price of a fancy car in order to call the world's largest cat painting his or her own. Weighing 227 pounds and measuring 6-feet by 8.5-feet, "My Wife's Lovers" was painted by Austrian artist Carl Kahler around 1893 and features 42 cats, all of which had real-life counterparts belonging to the painting's commissioner, Kate Birdsall Johnson (who owned 350 cats total, by some reports). In the center of the work is Sultan, a cat who cost Johnson $3,000.

Sotheby's New York estimated earlier that the portrait would sell for around half a million dollars; on Tuesday, the anonymous buyer dwarfed those estimates by picking it up for $826,000.

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Kahler's masterpiece now likely has a new claim to fame — the most expensive cat painting ever sold.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.