Authentic Human Expression

The Spirit of Bears in Art

By RaDonna Freeman - July 8th, 2025

It's little wonder artists love to paint bears. They are cute, interesting, curious, powerful, and dangerous. They have been loved and revered for millennia. There's something extra special about seeing one in person, and very few people ever do, so capturing them in art is the next best thing.

The painting below is commonly known as The Bear Dance, and it depicts a fantastical group of bears having an exclusive dance party in the woods. For those who don't know, this painting is also known as "The Bears of Wall Street Celebrating a Drop in the Stock Market." This beautiful work has known great popularity due to the joyous and happy audience of children who are celebrating entirely free of the concerns of a bear market on Wall Street.

The artist William Holbrook Beard was an American-born artist, born April 13th, 1824, in Ohio. He started his career as a portrait painter, traveled all over the world - Germany, Italy, Switzerland studying and enjoying art, and eventually moved to New York City, where he opened his own studio in a well-renowned art district of the time. He painted many satirical and anthropomorphic animal works that are well known and loved throughout the world. He worked up until his final days as a painter and author, until he passed away in 1900.

The Bear Dance, By William Holbrook Beard, Painted around 1870

Fall in the Foothills was painted by W. Herbert Dunton sometime between 1933 and 1934. Dunton, an American-born painter, was the founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He was born in 1878 and died in 1936. He was best known as an American West artist who enjoyed painting cowboys, the American West, and frontier life.

Fall in the Foothills is located at the Smithsonian Institution. The painting is peaceful and serene, capturing a mama black bear and her adorable cubs. The golden and orange foliage on the trees suggests it's fall, and the bears are likely getting ready for the long winter ahead. This painting captures the beauty of the American West, and really showcases Dunton’s exceptional mastery of not only light, but color and composition as well. A lovely wilderness painting that gives a glimpse of the wonder and rolling his of the American frontier.

Fall in the Foothills, By W. Herbert Dunton, ca. 1933-1934, oil on canvas, 34 x 42 in. (86.4 x 106.8 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.36

Bear in a Winter Landscape by Bruno Liljefors depicts a winter scene featuring a lone grizzly bear emerging from the woods. The bear stands out from the cool snow-covered trees. This painting captures the beauty and harshness of the Scandinavian wilderness. Liljefors captures the scene in cool light to dark contrast and gives the viewer a sense of the bear's survival instincts and raw power.

Bruno Liljefors was a Swedish artist and painter who was born in 1860 and died in 1939. He was well known for his beautiful wildlife paintings. He expertly captured animals in their natural environments, blending his artistic expression with true wildlife observation.

Bear in a Winter Landscape, By Bruno Liljefors (1860-1939)

Morning in a Pine Forest, which was formerly titled The Bear Family in the Forest, is a painting by two Russian artists first Ivan Shishkin and then Konstantin Savitsky. The original painting was by Shishkin and did not depict bears, it was just a landscape. Shishkin knew Konstantin Savisky well, and when he proposed the addition of bears, by himself, Shishkin was skeptical. However, Shishkin decided to commission the artist Savitsky to add the bears to his original work. It is said that the addition of the bears made the work more dynamic and interesting. At the final sale, the names of both artists appear on the painting as I. I. Shishkin and K. A. Savitsky. During the late 1880's a popular candy factory used a copy, altered by the artist Manuil Andreev, on the first batch of their candy wrappers, with the candy titled "clumsy bears." The candy was a hit and the company was held in high esteem.

This painting is believed to have been painted in the untouched wilderness near the Vologda forests of Gorodomlya Island. Much of the area remains untouched by humans.

Morning in a Pine Forest, By Ivan Shishkin and then Konstantin Savitsky. c. 1889

Bears have always been a part of the human landscape, and they are always an intriguing subject. Thank you for reading.

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