Meet Pigcasso, the painter pig who just sold its latest artwork for £20,000

Creating record of sorts, a painting pig named Pigcasso who was saved from slaughter at the 11th hour before becoming a world-renowned artist has sold an abstract work for a record breaking £20,000.

The picture, Wild and Free, was purchased by a German buyer named Peter Esser on Monday, just hours after it was put up for sale. It smashes the previous record of £14,000 set by a chimp named Congo in 2005 for an animal's artwork.

The painting contains acrylic streaks of blue, green and white on a large canvas. The painter took many weeks to complete it.

The pig and the owner Joanne Lefson reside at Farm Sanctuary SA, which is a safe haven for rescued farm animals in the Franschhoek Valley of South Africa. Joanne said she had Congo's record in mind when she came up with the idea for Pigcasso's current work, but she didn't want to break it; instead, she wanted to demonstrate how intelligent and creative animals can be.

On completion, the work was posted on social media and sold within 72 hours of release.

She said, “I wanted to have Pigcasso create something that had never been done before. An oversize, larger-than-life canvas that could challenge the intrinsic value of an artwork created by an animal.”

Joanne added, “There was significant interest in the piece. 'It's not just a visually striking and beautiful painting, it's a profound moment for Pigcasso, and for farm animals.”

Pigcasso was rescued from an industrialized hog business on the suburbs of Cape Town a month after birth in 2016. After several old paintbrushes were accidentally left in her stall, Joanne found that the pig had a talent for painting.

Now five-years-old, Pigcasso, weighing a whopping 1,500 pounds, has generated over 400 works of original art as a result of her decision to cultivate the pig's passion. All sales go towards Farm Sanctuary SA's operations and the care of the vulnerable animals there.