Our Favorite Demons

Ghouls, goblins, and ghosts have populated the human imagination since time immemorial.

So, this Halloween, Getty staff members want to share their favorite depictions of demons in art.

Power Ranger or Demon?

My favorite Getty demons come from a polyptych titled Coronation of the Virgin and Saints.

These colorful demons are located in a small panel, but to me, they are the most interesting part—they’re hard to miss. Each of these satanic creatures is decked out in their own unique colors, sort of like a demonic Power Rangers squad. Sadly, they are torturing saint Anthony; however, he isn’t showing much emotion. These demons don’t look too mean; maybe they’re about to mug him, and he’ll oblige by offering his wallet at any moment.

The whole panel dates back to the 1390s, so it is just mind-boggling to me that the colors are still so vivid and the figures are recognizable as demons today. It’s great that these creatures predate so much iconography that permeates pop culture to this day. To me, they resemble the characters of one of my favorite video games growing up named Demon’s Crest and one of my favorite Disney cartoons, Gargoyles.

—Tristan Bravinder, Social Media Manager

Teeth and Claws

These colorful demons appear in the lower margin of this prayer book, in an image showing the infernal punishment of a rich, gluttonous man named Dives, who in life had refused hospitality to a poor, suffering man who had appeared at Dives’s home. The story comes from the Gospel of Luke, and I find this image so evocative of the kinds of terrible things, and awful, snarling creatures that awaited people in Hell who hadn’t lived “good” lives on earth, according to the medieval Church.

These demons have such strong personalities. The details of their faces, teeth, claws, and tails, and the unbridled glee with which they carry out the task of torturing Dives makes the scene feel so visceral and so immediate. These demons always feel so modern to me too, I bet they’ve had the same effect on viewers since this manuscript was painted in the early 16th century.

—Larisa Grollemond, Assistant Curator in the Manuscripts Department

A Ghostly Vision

Who is the young woman gazing out from the beyond, one arm laid tenderly on the other’s chest? A lost daughter, dearly departed cousin or cherished friend?

“Spirit photographs” such as this one emerged in the early 1860s in Boston, amidst the heavy losses of the American Civil War. They provided a novel way to mourn, reuniting the bereaved with their loved ones. Such photographs were powerful sources of solace for those left behind, and were believed to provide visual proof of the continued presence of the departed.

Mediums, usually women, played an important role in producing these photographs by helping sitters to channel the dead. Spirit photographers claimed that the ghostly figures appeared without warning. Some spirits were even reported to have stayed on after the photograph was made to communicate with the sitters in the studio.

While skeptics dismissed the photographers’ claims as lies, many saw the photographs as evidence of a mysterious afterlife. Even today, some see these photographs as proof of the ghosts and spirits living among us.

—Antares Wells, Department of Photographs

Trick or Treat

Peering out from beneath a startling cardboard mask, gloved hands holding a paper bag in anticipation, a child’s voice rings through the dark street: “Trick or treat!”

While working as a staff photographer for a local newspaper in the suburbs of San Francisco, Bill Owens found himself drawn to the lives of the middle-class families who were moving to the city’s outskirts in droves. On weekends, he began taking photographs of people in the community. Halloween was one of many events he sought to capture in what became a year-long exploration of suburban life.

Owens recorded people’s comments on the backs of his photographs. This child was particularly lucky the year before, telling Owens:

Last year I got 4 pounds of candy: 72 Jelly beans, 67 Candy Corns, 26 Tootsie Rolls, 18 Tootsie Pops, 21 licorice sticks,15 Jaw breakers, 14 bubble gums, 11 packs of gum, 10 Baby Ruth bars, 11 Hershey bars, 4 Peter Paul Mounds bars, 3 Sugar Daddies, 3 pop corn balls, 3 Milky Way bars, 2 bags of cookies, 2 salt water taffy and a candy apple. It took me three days and I ate everything.

—Antares Wells, Department of Photographs

A Gory Trip through Hell