Bats in Art

Bat Zemi (Taino Culture)
Source: Wake Forest University Museum of Anthropology

I feel like bats have gotten a bad rap lately. There is evidence that the novel coronavirus that is currently causing a worldwide pandemic originally came from bats, which seems to have given a lot of people the idea that bats are the enemy, so to speak. Personally, I find bats to be rather adorable, and, more importantly, they’re a vital part of most ecosystems, dispersing seeds, pollinating plants, and eating troublesome insects. It’s true that they carry many diseases, but this doesn’t mean they’re dirty or unhealthy; bats simply have immune systems that function very differently from those of other mammals. Therefore, bats can carry diseases without actually getting sick.

As I noted, I feel a lot of personal affection for bats. So, in honor of these remarkable creatures, I wanted to take a few moments to discuss the history of bats in art.

In Western culture, bats have a long history of being associated with the supernatural and/or forces of evil. This is largely because they are nocturnal and live in caves (the traditional dwelling place of monsters in Western myths). Bats were also associated with death among the pre-Columbian cultures of Central and South America. The Maya had a bat god named Camazotz who was associated with death, and there is evidence that the Taino people believed that bats carried the messages of the dead.

Bats have more positive associations in Eastern cultures, where they can be associated with happiness and good-luck. However, my knowledge of Eastern art is extremely limited, so I’m going to focus on bats in Western art today.

As I noted above, in Western art bats are traditionally linked to forces of darkness and are regarded with superstition. They are often associated with witchcraft and the idea of evil more generally. For example, in Mucho hay que chupar (There is Plenty to Suck), a print in Francisco Goya’s Capricho series, bats can be seen flapping in the background as a group of “witches” brood over a basket of stolen babies. Although Goya used this imagery as a way to criticize superstition, it is clear that bats were associated with a diabolical form of witchcraft in nineteenth century Spain. 

Mucho hay que chupar by Francisco Goya
Source: Museo del Prado

So, where did these associations come from? I think it’s important to remember that bats exist in a liminal space in the natural world. They are mammals, and yet they fly. They appear as day fades into night, and they live in caves, which are viewed as gateways between the physical and spiritual worlds in many cultures around the world. They are difficult to understand and difficult to categorize. Therefore, it is unsurprising that they are viewed with suspicion and mistrust.

However, while some of these superstitions persist, bats are usually portrayed more positively in the modern age. Scientific study of the bat has removed some of the supernatural mystique, allowing artists to approach bats from a more objective perspective (although nothing can ever be truly objective). Vincent van Gogh’s depiction of a flying fox is an example of this. Here, the bat is approached from an unemotive, academic point of view, allowing the bat to be simply an animal and not a monstrous creature of the night. 

Flying Fox by Vincent van Gogh
Source: The Van Gogh Museum

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.