Eduard Wiiralt 1898–1954 Tiiger. 1937

Depiction of animals in art is of course not rare, but the creation of such a grand work certainly is. Wiiralt went repeatedly to draw in the zoo in order to be as well as possible aware of the essence of a tiger. This essence lied for the artist in its movements and postures, but not in sudden and dramatic dashing, but in its majestic peace. His tiger is at the same time majestic, but from another side also constantly awake and ready to jump. Here are connected the surmised tension and outer superiority. This is proved by one more thing, which was for Wiiralt even more important than the exact capturing of the posture – the look in the animal’s eyes.