How are you?
On every Thursday, I am
introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the
title “Interesting Art Stories”.
The 17th story for this week is
"The Garden of Earthly Delights" by the Early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus
Bosch.
“The Garden of Earthly
Delights” is a triptych oil painting on oak panel painted by the Early
Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch between 1490 and 1510. Bosch was a Netherlandish
painter from Brabant, born around 1450 and died on August 9, 1516.
Hieronymus Bosch
There are
some records, but little is known about Bosch's life. Bosch, along with his
most famous follower, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, had a great influence on the art
of the 16th century in northern Europe. Today he is regarded as a painter with
outstanding insights into humanity's desires and fears.
Including this work, Bosch painted
three large triptychs (the other two works are “The Last Judgment” of c. 1482 and
“The Haywain Triptych” of c. 1516) that can be viewed from left to right and
each panel is essential to the meaning of the whole painting.
The Last Judgment (c. 1482)
The Haywain Triptych (c. 1516)
It is not known
whether this work was painted as an altarpiece, but the general view is that
the extreme themes in the center and right panels are not suitable for use in a
church or monastery.
The outer panels, which can be seen
by closing the left and right panels, depict the Bible's “creation of the world”
using green–gray grisaille.
The outer panels
The left panel depicts the scene of
the Garden of Eden, where God presents Eve to Adam.
Left panel
The central panel shows a secular
pleasure garden full of naked men and women along with a variety of animals,
plants and fruits.
Central panel
The right panel shows Hell as a
result of human beings not following God's will. The tone of this panel, set at
night, is very intense unlike the previous ones, showing an image that has
changed from a paradise in the center panel to a scene of cruel torture and
retribution.
Unlike previous paintings, Bosch was
innovative in that he described hell not as an imaginary place, but as a real
world that contains many elements found in everyday human life.
Right panel
Since very little is known about the
intention of the painting as well as Bosch's life, the interpretation of this
work is very diverse. Bosch's work is full of complex and
abstract images, thus new things related to the painting continue to be
discovered even today over 500 years after it was painted. This painting has
been held by the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939.
Prado Museum
Thank you.
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