Arthur Heyer was born in Haarhuisen, which fell under the German dynasty Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Although he painted different animals, they are mainly cats of the Turkish angoraras that he captured on canvas: playing with a ball, mesmerized by a butterfly in the garden, preying on the dog food or tumbling kittens over each other. Heyer was educated at the educational institution of the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin, which would later merge with the academy. Heyer began his career illustrating for newspapers and books, and in 1896 Heyer moved to Budapest where he had his first exhibition ten years later.