The artist Walton Ford is known for his richly detailed and complex paintings of animals, some familiar and some extinct, drawn with a striking, at times unsettling, take on the traditional academic style. Imagine the work of the artist-naturalist John James Audubon, but on steroids and Red Bull.

His work doesn’t exactly scream black-tie-opening-at-the-opera.

And yet, Mr. Ford has contributed not one but two images to the program known as the Gallery Met Banners, appearing on the facade of the Metropolitan Opera announcing the presentation inside.

“I’ve never done anything quite like it,” said Mr. Ford, who added that he thoroughly enjoyed the experience of creating an artwork for Hector Berlioz’s “La Damnation de Faust” (featuring a rearing goat) and “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss (a bat with wings outspread hanging from a woman’s arm).

His works, majestic and a bit creepy, somehow tap into the uncanny drama that powers many an opera plot.