Horses have been a constant presence in art, from ancient times to contemporary galleries. Whether captured with irony, sometimes with a deep sense of reverence, or in a more abstract way, they continue to inspire across various genres. Many of today's artists also bring their personal experience as riders into their work. We've selected eight artists whose creative depictions of these majestic animals truly stand out.
Natálie Roučková
is both a painter and a show jumping rider, and she's even a three-time Czech national champion in the sport. She doesn't just paint horses as beautiful creatures; she uses them to convey different characters, emotions, situations, and experiences. "I can talk about horses with a clear conscience, knowing that I truly understand them. But in the end, the horse itself isn't the main focus—it's the pure joy of painting, drawing, and composition," the artist explained. The daughter of painter Pavel Roučka and fashion designer Daniela Flejšarová, she also runs her own fashion brand, EquiSoul, where horses are a dominant motif. Among other things, she designed outfits for Czech show jumpers competing in the Olympic Games. You can look forward to an interview with her in the upcoming issue of the Sport in Art print magazine.
Jitka Petrášová
focuses on large-scale figurative painting, where with an ironic distance, she often explores her own formative experiences from childhood and adolescence. Horses appear in her Klusáci series, for example. "I really enjoy the movement of animals, that dynamic energy. And horse racing—jockeys in their outfits with goggles and caps seem a bit comical to me, but horses are incredibly elegant," Jitka Petrášová shared in an interview, which you can read by following this link. In her work, Petrášová often incorporates other sporting themes, which you can also find and purchase at the Sport in Art gallery.
Amy Butowicz
Horses also appear in the work of American painter and sculptor Amy Butowicz, who was once an active rider herself. Her sculpture Muff Horse, which combines tall wooden legs with a textile body, symbolizes her relationship with animals in general. The piece was inspired, among other things, by the ancient Egyptians, who believed that by using animal legs in furniture, the symbolic powers of the animal would transfer to the object.
Les Soeurs Siamoises
The artistic duo Les Soeurs Siamoises creates bold acrylic paintings in Paris, filled with unmistakable ironic humor. "We decided to make a series of paintings about horses because they represent a way for us to talk about journeys in general," they confess. They dedicated an entire series to these animals, titled La chevauchée fantastique, or Fantastic Horses. In this series, horses are sometimes depicted as rocking horse toys, while at other times they are accompanied by various caricatures, clowns, and comic book characters.
Rex Lee
South Korean artist Rex Lee creates strikingly colorful acrylic paintings, often featuring athletes from various sports, ranging from skiers to race car drivers. Horses make recurring appearances in his work, both in the form of horse racing and as a nod to classic equestrian sculptures. In his large painting Horse Racing from 2021, he depicts a highly caricatured jockey in a white and blue uniform. The horse beneath him almost disappears within a tangle of bold, colorful shapes, leaving only the suggestion of the animal, with just a hint of the horse's head. As in many of his other works, Lee, who currently resides in New York, conveys his ideas through geometric abstraction.
David Horgan
London-based painter David Horgan merges storytelling from everyday life with encounters from popular culture in his simple yet powerful paintings. His bold, colorful works often feature figurative scenes expressed in a fast, raw, and emotional style, with a touch of humor. Horgan frequently paints portraits and urban motifs, including park runs, football, and dancing. Cowboys and other Wild West themes regularly appear in his works, and these scenes definitely wouldn't be complete without the presence of horses.
Werner Bronkhorst
Horses also trot across the vivid green canvases of Werner Bronkhorst, whose style is instantly recognizable thanks to his bold brushstrokes on monochromatic backgrounds. These strokes create traces in the snow for miniature skiers, waves for swimmers, divers or surfers, roads for cyclists, grass for golfers, and jockeys on horseback. The South African-born artist, now living in Australia, enhances the strong surfaces woven with paths of brushstrokes with hyperrealistic miniatures of people in various situations—athletes and horses with riders. He employed this technique in a unique collaboration with Czech biker Richard Gasperotti, resulting in a painting of a cyclist on volcanic ash, which Gasperotti brought back from his descent of a Guatemalan volcano.
Rocky Hawkins
The dynamic image of horses running across the landscape is one of the key motifs in American painter Rocky Hawkins' work. He depicts horses, like human figures, in a blend of expressionist realism and abstraction. Hawkins places great emphasis on color, often using vibrant shades, and his bold brushstrokes are unmistakable. Throughout his life, he has visited places connected to the history of Native Americans, and it is from this connection that his fascination with horses originates. He portrays them both in intricate detail, often with riders on their backs, and in the broader context of the landscape. In his paintings, he enjoys emphasizing the movement of horses, sometimes allowing them to disappear into nearly abstract strokes to enhance their speed.
Check out a deeper look at the portrayal of horses in visual art through history in the article Horses, Riding, and Falls: Literal, Metaphorical, Bittersweet.
