Pachyderm Painters

Elephants like to paint - apparently you can give them a brush and pallete and they're happy as can be. Artbyelephants.com is devoted to showing off their work, which has been compared to that of several twentieth century abstract luminaries.

One of my favorite stories involves the famous abstract painter Willem de Kooning. As a joke, someone decided to show him a painting done by an elephant and upon looking at it, the artist was quite impressed. After commenting on the exquisite color and beautiful curves of the lines, his friend revealed that the painting was, in fact, done by an elephant. Not missing a beat, de Kooning responded with line, "That's a damn talented elephant you have there."