From vermin to chic: the evolving iconography of rats in art

The article traces the shifting symbolism of rats and mice in Western visual culture, from medieval bestiaries to contemporary art. In the early 2000s, Banksy's mouse reading "Welcome to Hell" presaged coming disasters. Historically, rodents represented marginality and evil, as seen in Goya's plague hospital scenes. In 1982, Neapolitan painter Rosa Persico created large, dramatic rats that caught critic Achille Bonito Oliva's attention, leading to the 1985 exhibition "Evacuare Napoli." Today, rats have been aestheticized into cute decorative objects, exemplified by Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse. The article contrasts this with Todd Phillips's film "Joker," where a clown in Mickey Mouse guise commits mass murder. Philosophers Jacques Derrida and Theodor Adorno are cited on the word "animal" as a human arrogation. The text notes that slaves, the exploited, and rats share being prey with zero value. In Gothic church capitals, human-animal hybrids inspired terror and fascination. Modernity's metropolis forced coexistence with rats; 19th-century London treated the poor like rats. John Steinbeck's 1937 novel "Of Mice and Men" is invoked: the giant Lennie accidentally kills small creatures, while the shrewd George survives like a rat. The author, Marcello Faletra, is a essayist and artist focusing on art criticism, aesthetics, and critical image theory.