Creative stallion’s works go on display

ARTISTIC four-year-old stallion Napoleon has had his works put on display in the Mutt Gallery in Barcelona, Spain.

Having learned his craft from the Catalan artist Sergio Caballero, Napoleon has now been given a major solo exhibition entitled Abstraction in the Stable, according to a report in the respected arts publicity firm Art Media Agency (AMA).

Napoleon uses his mouth to grab the brush and then proceeds to paint on canvasses prepared for him by Caballero, a friend of the horse’s owner. Three private collectors have become devoted admirers and support the animal’s oeuvre.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Sergio Caballero said he had begun working with Napoleon to find a new process of creation reminiscent of Daniel Spoerri’s “snare-pictures”, completed by children.

Napoleon is a pure-bred Dutch Friesian, a breed of draught horse more commonly famed in the equestrian world for their skill at dressage.

But this creative equine uses his mouth to grip a brush and by tossing his head makes bold brushstrokes of acrylic colour across canvases mounted on an easel.

Caballero said: “I choose the colours, brushes, picture frame areas where he has to paint, I turn the canvas but it’s the horse’s strokes that create the work.”