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| The Garden of Earthly Delights Hieronymus Bosch, 1510-1515 220 x 389 cm, oil on oak panel Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain |
On my journey as an artist, I've come across many painters, both past and present, whose work I like. Some, like Claude Monet, are household names; others, like Gustave Caillebotte, don't enjoy the honor of having their work on posters in the home décor center at Target. Still, whether a bright star or a lesser light, each of these painters has influenced me in some way. I would like to share them with you in a series of blog posts that I'm calling “My Art History.” (But I'll still be posting tips, tricks and techniques, so don't despair!)
Let's start with the Early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516).
I don't know when I first came across his work, but I do know that his nightmarish landscapes with weird creatures fascinated me from an early age. At the time, I was probably reading a lot of fantasy, and Bosch was a timely discovery. Because he left no letters or diaries, we know very little about him, but we do know he was a popular painter in his day and received commissions from abroad. But without any commentary from him, we know very little about what his paintings actually mean. Some seem to be religious allegories; others, moral tales; and still others, a hodge-podge of who knows what from his imagination or from exposure to ergot fungus.
You've probably seen his most famous work, “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” (Image at top of post.) Even so, I recommend you download the 175- megabyte, high resolution image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights_by_Bosch_High_Resolution.jpg so you can really get into the detail. Composed of three sections of oil on oak panel, the left panel depicts the Garden of Eden; the right panel, the Last Judgment; and the center, occupying the between-times of Eden and the Last Judgment, the Garden of Earthly Delights itself.
As I look through the painting, I find an abundance of puzzles. What, for example, is the meaning of this?
There's much disagreement over meaning and intent. But for me as a painter, the painting signifies the imaginative riches possible in an otherwise realistic landscape. As I walk through the world, looking for subject matter, I sometimes think of Bosch's work, and I look for the unusual.
Here's a 50-minute video explaining the painting (can't see the video below? https://youtu.be/vBG621XEegk)
