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The reason for the near-total absence of women among history’s flâneurs is obvious: it was (and, in many places, unfortunately still is) unsafe for a woman to walk alone.

When Warburg tried to stop the animal, Klee said that the cat should be allowed to wander freely, so that years later, art connoisseurs would wonder how he got that effect. The cat did not intend to collaborate with Klee, and most likely had a limited appreciation of the painting on which it stepped. Klee, however, could appreciate the element of disturbance brought by the cat, and used it in his work. Warburg’s account may have a touch of fiction, but that doesn’t make it any less true.