Detail of a Balinese carving of the bird-warrior Garuda

Asian Art MuseumCivic Center, San Francisco

Garuda in Bali

Now showing18 September 2026 – 4 January 2027$20

Balinese sculptures and paintings tell the epic of Garuda, the bird-warrior who became the national symbol of Indonesia.

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On now All of October 2026

In one Balinese painting from around 1910 to 1930, Garuda turns up again and again: battling the gods, reaching the cave that holds the elixir of immortality, then flying off with it. It's a ransom. His mother, Winata, lost a rigged bet to her sister and was enslaved, and the elixir is the price of her freedom.

You follow the story through wooden sculptures, paintings and textiles from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hand-drawn graphics inspired by Balinese artists Ketut Madra and Ni Made Suciarmi surround them, a nod to how painted cloths hung in temples for a few days a year among offerings. At the centre, Garuda's towering wooden wings frame Vishnu, the god he agreed to carry.

Read each painting like a strip: Balinese artists repeat characters across one composition, so the action moves scene to scene. It's in the Hambrecht Contemporary Gallery, included with general admission ($20, free for 12 and under), and the museum is open until 8 PM on Thursdays.

Look for

Vishnu riding Garuda
Look at the centre of the gallery: a monumental carving in colours and gold on wood, Garuda's towering wings framing the god on his back.
The elixir painting (about 1910 to 1930)
Garuda appears again and again across one canvas, fighting the gods, approaching the cave of the elixir, then making off with it.
Garuda, Wibawasu, Supratika
A frenzied painting of Garuda seizing an elephant and a turtle to eat, two feuding brothers turned into animals by a curse.
The Winata textile
A Balinese cloth shows Garuda setting out to free his mother, enslaved after losing a rigged bet to her sister Kadru.
Ravana riding Wilmana
The demon king rides a different mythical bird, a reminder that not every powerful bird in Balinese art is Garuda.