Famous Artists and Their Beloved Dogs: From Magritte to Warhol

A feature explores the deep bonds between renowned artists and their canine companions. René Magritte owned four Pomeranians, two named Loulou and two Jackies, and worried about traveling with Loulou to his 1965 MoMA retrospective. His painting Le Civilisateur (1944) depicts his third Pomeranian, Jackie. Jackson Pollock found solace with his dogs Gyp and Ahab during his struggles with alcoholism; their paw prints remain on his studio door. Frida Kahlo championed the nearly extinct Xoloitzcuintle breed, naming her dog Señor Xólotl after the Aztec god, and included him in her 1949 painting The Love Embrace of the Universe. Italian architect Adamo Boari immortalized his setter Aída on the façade of Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes after her death. Andy Warhol adopted dachshund Archie in the early 1970s, taking him everywhere, and later added Amos; in 1976, collector Peter Brant commissioned Warhol to paint his Cocker Spaniel, leading to portraits of Archie and Amos. Georgia O'Keeffe kept chow chows from the late 1920s onward, valuing their independence and loyalty during her years in New Mexico. Lucian Freud featured whippets Pluto and Eli in his paintings, such as Double Portrait (1985–1986) with his daughter Bella. Pablo Picasso's dachshund Lump, owned by photographer David Douglas Duncan, lived with Picasso from 1957 to 1964 and appears in many of his works; Lump died days before Picasso in 1973.