Jim McMahon

The latest painter making waves in the art community may surprise you: a 3-year-old, roughly 1,000-pound pig named Pigcasso. Her masterpieces have sold for as much as $4,000 each, and her recent collaboration with Swatch quickly became one of the watchmaking company’s best-selling limited edition designs. Her artistic career began in 2016 after she was rescued from a South African slaughterhouse and went to live at an animal sanctuary near Cape Town. Pigs are highly intelligent animals, so Farm Sanctuary SA owner Joanne Lefson looked for ways to keep her entertained. It turned out the pig wasn’t interested in soccer balls, but she did love paintbrushes. Before long, she was swirling nontoxic paint across canvas to create colorful, unique compositions. Her work is sold online and through a gallery at the sanctuary, and she’s even hosted her own exhibit. So far, she’s earned about $200,000 for the sanctuary. Lefson hopes Pigcasso’s story will show that farm animals are creative beings with feelings. “You can’t exactly define what she’s painting,” she told Reuters, “but I can tell you that her style slightly changes depending on her mood, like any great artist.”