It is the creator of The Man in the Well in Lascaux that Bataille considers as first artist and homo spiritualis. His paintbrush is not only a tool, it is a social and psychological construct, as it serves to unite and control the disruptive effects of the death drive (the drive to kill) and the sex drive (the drive to procreate). Art achieves a ludic transgression of social prohibitions through its ritualized representation in the man who lies seemingly dying with an erection, but is also spiritualized by his bird head into the totemic and shamanic figure of a bird-man. These shamanic polarized representations of man/animal, life (Eros/Erection)/death (Thanatos/eternity) are transgressive in that they both cover and uncover contrary drives, and a very spiritual tension in a man that is now conscious of his human condition and destiny. This artistic statement by the creator of The Man in the Well is therefore particularly significant because anthropomorphic representations are very rare in Paleolithic art, which again, confirms Lascaux as first art event in man’s evolutionary artistic development.

Keywords: Lascaux, Homo ludens, Man in the well.