--- title: World's Largest Cat Painting Sells for $826,000 description: A canvas that is believed to be the world's largest cat painting was auctioned off at Sotheby's in New York on Monday for $826,000. canonical: https://time.com/4100028/worlds-largest-cat-painting-sells/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-04T19:14:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:26:37.063Z og:title: World's Largest Cat Painting Sells for $826,000 og:description: The painting is called My Wife's Lovers og:url: https://time.com/4100028/worlds-largest-cat-painting-sells/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: World's Largest Cat Painting Sells for $826,000 twitter:description: The painting is called My Wife's Lovers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # World's Largest Cat Painting Sells for $826,000 ## Video: Inside New York's First Cat Cafe [Watch (HLS stream): Inside New York's First Cat Cafe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0MiiFeak.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2014-12-12. Meet the cats of NYC's first cat cafe, Meow Parlour, and hear more about the growing trend of paying to play with cats from the cafe's two owners._  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 4, 2015 7:14 PM CUT  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 4, 2015 7:14 PM CUT A canvas that is believed to be the world’s largest cat painting was auctioned off at Sotheby’s in New York on Monday for $826,000\. The enormous composition is titled _My Wife’s Lovers_ and was painted by Austrian artist Carl Kahler around 1893\. It weighs 227 pounds, measures 75-inches-by-102-inches and is so large it had to be hung on a specially constructed wall, according to the [CBC](http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.3300077/updated-world-s-largest-cat-painting-sells-at-auction-1.3300082 "undefined"). The cats featured in the work of art belong to the painting’s commissioner, Kate Birdsall Johnson. However, only 42 of her 350 felines made the cut for the piece. The cat named [Sultan](http://theweek.com/speedreads/586896/worlds-largest-cat-painting-sells-mystery-buyer-826000 "undefined"), a $3000 purchase for Johnson, sits in the painting’s center spot. Cat enthusiasts were entranced by the painting while it was on display at the auction house. “When _My Wife’s Lovers_ first went on exhibit on Friday, two women showed up with folding chairs and just sat and stared at the painting, taking in each different cat and their painted personality” the CBC reported. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4100028/worlds-largest-cat-painting-sells/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4100028/worlds-largest-cat-painting-sells/"},"headline":"World's Largest Cat Painting Sells for $826,000","datePublished":"2015-11-04T19:14:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:26:37.063Z","description":"The painting is called My Wife's Lovers","url":"https://time.com/4100028/worlds-largest-cat-painting-sells/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","cats","New York","Art","sotheby's"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4100028/worlds-largest-cat-painting-sells/","name":"World's Largest Cat Painting Sells for $826,000"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Inside New York's First Cat Cafe","description":"Meet the cats of NYC's first cat cafe, Meow Parlour, and hear more about the growing trend of paying to play with cats from the cafe's two owners.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0MiiFeak/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-12T19:30:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0MiiFeak.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4100028/worlds-largest-cat-painting-sells/","duration":"PT1M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4100028/worlds-largest-cat-painting-sells/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```