Hieronymus Bosch (October 1453-August 1516) was a Dutch painter, credited with a freakish style, centered on human vice and damnation.
Bosch's works involved intricate detailing and were usually religious, unconventional, & could easily be compared to the 'Gothic Art' of the 'Late Middle Ages.
' The use of 'Medieval' symbols and bloodcurdling imagery in Hieronymus' works has fascinated several scholars, even to this day, of their intended meaning.
"The Garden of Earthly Delights (or The Millennium, 1505)" is one such example involving complex imagery and meaning, depicting the history of mankind mostly through Biblical expressions and are filled with chilling symbols and images depicting the world's fall from grace.
"The Garden of Earthly Delights" is a three-part triptych, a painting that has three side-by-side panels.
It is considered the most famous and 'Surreal' painting of Hieronymus.
It consists of four paintings on each of the folding canvass.
The outer panel, when closed, depicts the "Third day of creation," the time before the creation of sun & moon.
The effect is communicated through the light shades of green-grey.
The outer panels of the work act as the setting for the interior panels.
The interior panels of "The Garden of Earthly Delights" depict "Eden," "The Garden of Earthly Delights," and "Hell," in the chronological order, from left to right, filled with several bright and startling colors.
The left wing, also known as the "Joining of Adam and Eve," shows Adam & Eve standing in Paradise with God blessing their union.
The panel also contains several 'Symbolic' images, for e.
g.
the images of owl & unicorn, which are often interpreted differently by different people.
The central panel provides the name for the entire triptych, as it depicts idyllic garden, teeming with various images of nude male-females engaged in sexual orgy, animals, birds, fruits etc.
In isolation, this central panel could be termed as a eulogy to a life of folly & sexual lunacy.
When considered however, in combination with the images on extreme right panel depicting hell, it is interpreted by many experts as moral lesson about sexual intemperateness and the causes of man's downfall.
The panel at extreme right side illustrates hell.
Bosch, with his masterful use of colors, depicts the haunting images of burning city with mutated animals and demons feeding on human flesh.
These horrifying images hint at the consequences of the life lived in sinful pleasure.
Critics have attempted to relate the fantasies displayed in "The Garden of Earthly Delights" to the realties, but have never arrived at logical interpretation.
Hieronymus Bosch passed away in the year 1516, leaving the world to puzzle out the mysteries in his most famous work.
The painting is currently displayed in the Prado Museum, Madrid.