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Pigcasso (2016 to 2024): Artist and work
Photo: Joanne Lefson / picture alliance / dpa
Jane Goodall, the world-famous chimpanzee researcher, really wanted to see the sick animal.
But the 89-year-old came too late: one day before her arrival at the farm in Franschhoek, South Africa, according to his owner Joanne Lefson, the painting house pig Pigcasso died.
"It became apparent and was a matter of time," Lefson told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Pigcasso suffered from chronic rheumatoid arthritis.
The pig lady caused a stir around the world because she applied paint to canvas with a brush in her mouth or with her pink snout.
Her colorful works of art were exhibited in Cape Town for the first time in 2018 - making Pigcasso the first animal to have her work recognized with a solo exhibition.
In the following years there were further exhibitions in Amsterdam, St. Tropez, Shanghai, Beijing, London - and also in Hannoversch Münden.
At the exhibition »OINK!
Less meat.
More Wonder« in 2022, the artist herself was not present, but the farm owner Joanne Lefson gave insights into the artistic process and Pigcasso's life story.
According to Lefson, she rescued the animal from the slaughterhouse in 2016 as a one-month-old piglet and brought it to her farm in Franschhoek in the Western Cape Province.
At the sanctuary, mistreated farm animals are supposed to lead a better life without mass farming and torture.
According to Lefson, Pigcasso paintings were already sold in 2019 for prices of up to 30,000 South African rand (around 2,000 euros), with the money going to the farm.
In 2021, a German art lover bought the painting “Wild and Free” for 20,000 British pounds, bringing Pigcasso into the Guinness Book: It was the highest price ever achieved for a work painted by an animal.
The Congo chimpanzee previously held the record.
In addition to Jane Goodall, the owners of Pigcasso paintings include tennis professional Rafael Nadal.
In 2019, a watch company from Switzerland advertised a work by the South African artist at the beginning of the Year of the Pig in the Chinese calendar.
While her namesake, Pablo Picasso, reached a relatively old age at 91, Pigcasso was not granted an exceptionally long life, despite the special attention she received on her farm.
The Federal Information Center for Agriculture writes that the natural life expectancy is around eight to ten years.
The animal protection organization Peta even says that up to 15 years could be achieved.
As farm animals, sows for producing piglets live to be three to four years old, while fattening pigs only live around six to seven months.
Feb