--- description: For Salvador Dalí's birthday, here's a photo of him with his cat. And yes, his cat is an ocelot. title: See 10 Photos of Famous Artists and Their Pet Cats image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbee5838791e5f35b/6987ee70a988ca2c356b0865/150505-artists-cats-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See 10 Great Artists With Their (Also Great) Cats  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 11, 2015 3:00 PM CUT  Artist Salvador Dali and his ocelot, Babou. Artist Salvador Dali and his ocelot, Babou.World Telegram & Sun photo by Roger Higgins; image courtesy of the Library of Congress  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 11, 2015 3:00 PM CUT The artist Salvador Dalí, who was on born on this day, May 11, in 1904, didn’t just create surrealist art—in some ways, his life was plenty surreal too. Take, for example, Babou. Instead of a normal domestic cat, Dalí kept the Colombian ocelot as his furry companion. Not that he would always admit it: as related in the new book _Artists and Their Cats_, by Alison Nastasi (Chronicle Books), Dalí once brought Babou out to dinner and then had to convince a frightened woman that the animal’s markings were painted on and that Babou was just your run-of-the-mill tame house cat. _Ceci_, as Dalí’s contemporary René Magritte might have said, _n’est pas un ocelot._ In honor of what would have been Dalí’s birthday, here he is with his feline friend — along with nine other artists and their meowing muses. _All images are from_ [Artists and Their Cats](http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Their-Cats-Alison-Nastasi/dp/1452133557 "undefined") _by Alison Nastasi._ **_Read TIME’s 1981 cover story about the latest feline fad:_** [Crazy Over Cats](http://time.com/3545852/crazy-over-cats/ "undefined")  Artist Salvador Dali and his ocelot, Babou. World Telegram & Sun photo by Roger Higgins; image courtesy of the Library of Congress  Artist Georgia O'Keeffe and her cat, 1935. Photograph by John Candelario. Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), 165660  Photographer Edward Weston with two of his cats ,1960. Berko—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Artist Claude Cahun her cat., 1927. Photo courtesy of the Jersey Heritage Museum  Composer John Cage and his cat. Courtesy of the John Cage Trust  Photographer Margaret Bourke-White and her cat, 1940. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Artist Henri Matisse and one of his cats. © Robert Capa © International Center of Photography/Magnum Photos  Artist Grandma Moses (born Anna Mary Robertson) and her cat, 1947. W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Artist Arthur Rackham and his cats. Image courtesy of the Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University  Photographer Florence Henri and her cat. Courtesy Archive Florence Henri/Martini & Ronchetti, Genoa ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3847331/cats-artists-dali-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3847331/cats-artists-dali-photos/"},"headline":"See 10 Great Artists With Their (Also Great) Cats","datePublished":"2015-05-11T15:00:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:47:38.949Z","description":"For Salvador Dalí's birthday, here's a photo of him with his cat. 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