Balthus regularly featured the feline form in his art, even as early as age nine, when he produced a story of his beloved Mitsou in forty Indian ink drawings. Balthus’s wife Setsuko and their daughter Harumi shared his deep affection for cats, and the family’s devotion becomes evident in this volume, which offers behind-the-scenes access into their home, featuring personal photographs, belongings, and reproductions of the artist’s cat paintings. “I always feel the desire to look for the extraordinary in ordinary things; to suggest, not to impose, to leave always a slight touch of mystery in my paintings,” he once said.