Michael Sowa (born 1945) is a German painter and Illustrator whose works are both surreal, playfully whimsical, and often feature animal characters. He studied art for seven years at the Berlin State School of Fine Arts. Sowa has illustrated for books, magazines, and album covers. In 1996, he published his own book, titled Sowa’s Ark : An Enchanted Bestiary, which features 50 of his original paintings. Sowa’s whimsical paintings have also appeared in the 2001 film, Amélie, which introduced his illustrations to a broader audience.
Michael Sowa’s paintings in chronological order:
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| A Summer Night’s Melancholy | A Turkey Provides Seven Kinds of Meat | Ark |
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| Ark (detail) | Ark (detail) | Ark (detail) |
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| Big Buzzer | Biker | Carpathian Chicken |
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| February | Friends | Giraffe |
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| Greetings From Berlin | Happy Easter | Haunted City |
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| Herbert | Highway Pig | Instant Relief Therapy |
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| Man, Table, Fish | Midsummer Night | Moving House |
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| On The Road | Pink Flamingos | Portrait of a Singer |
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| Quiet Days | Rabbit In Front Of The Mirror | Rabbit on a Train (detail) |
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| Rabbit on a Train (detail) | Sailor’s Lot (detail) | Sailor’s Lot (detail) |
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| Satellites of Pig | School of Fish | Sharks of Suburbia |
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| Sheepwith Lap Tops | Shop window rabbit | The Bear |
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| The Broken Paw | The Great Spring Tide of 1858 | The Last Hours of Pompei |
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| The Nibelungs. There goes another Legend | The Outing (detail) | The Outing (detail) |
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| The Outing (detail) | The Passage | The Rooster Goes on a Trip |
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| The Visit | Their Master’s Voice | Untitled |
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| We Want No Pigs in Dodensted | Woman with Moth | X-masis Coming |