His talents had enabled his works to be valued at several thousand euros.
The artist sow Pigcasso died at the age of 8, its owner, Joanne Lefson, announced this Thursday, March 7 on her Instagram account.
The latter paid tribute to him at length on Instagram: “From the slaughterhouse to the most accomplished animal artist in history, your life has been simply extraordinary.”
Pigcasso was adopted in 2016 in the Cape Winelands district (South Africa) when she was a few weeks old and was destined for the slaughterhouse.
She was rescued with her sister Rosie by Joanne Lefson, who opened an animal shelter farm that same year in the nearby town of Franschhoek.
“You also inspired millions of people to recognize farm animals as the sentient individuals that they are – each worthy of our empathy and compassion,” she noted in her tribute.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Pigcasso (@pigcassohoghero)
First non-human artist to be exhibited
This sow started painting after her owner noticed that the animal was destroying everything in her pigsty except paintbrushes.
Joanne Lefson then taught him how to hold brushes in order to use them on canvases.
From October 2016, at the age of around 6 months, Pigcasso began painting his first paintings.
In loving memory of Pigcasso who has sadly passed away.
Rescued from a factory farm in South Africa, Pigcasso changed the hearts and minds of so many, encouraging them to reconsider how they saw farmed animals.
She will leave a lasting legacy.
Video: Farm Sanctuary SA pic.twitter.com/DYL1U8HVVx
— Compassion in World Farming (@ciwf) March 7, 2024
Each of Pigcasso's works was signed by dipping the tip of his nose in beet ink and touching it to the canvas and the funds raised from the sales were used to finance the maintenance of the refuge farm, as well as the reception new animals.
The pig is even the first non-human artist to have been the subject of an exhibition in the history of the arts.
Pigcasso notably exhibited his paintings with those created by his owner in Cape Town in 2018. Other exhibitions have emerged in recent years in the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and China.
A record price for an animal painting
The animal's paintings quickly sold for several thousand South African rands, which allowed Pigcasso to be declared a "millionaire" in January 2019 with more than a million rands accumulated from the sale of her paintings. , or around 50,000 euros.
But it was in December 2021 that Pigcasso achieved a record for a work painted by an animal by selling a canvas at the price of 20,000 pounds sterling (23,000 euros), and beat the old amount of 14,000 pounds established by a chimpanzee in 2005.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Pigcasso (@pigcassohoghero)
Pigcasso's state of health suddenly deteriorated in September, Joanne Lefson detailed on the artist's website.
“At the beginning of October, his two hind legs began to limp due to calcification of his lower spine, aggravated by chronic rheumatoid arthritis, two incurable conditions directly linked to the manipulations and modifications to which the animals are subjected. farm animals in today’s factory farms,” she added.