an art review

This triptych, circa 1504, is a painting by a Dutch guy named Hieronymus Bosch. In 10th grade I wrote a paper about Bosch, saying he was ahead of his time by creating art that was more in synch with the surrealism of the early 20th century than with art of his own day. The paper got deleted along with everything else on that computer, so I'll never be completely sure, but I think it was the most insightful paper I've ever written.

The Garden of Earthly Delights

Please view a larger version here.

If you're already bored, just stop reading and allow me to be a nerd for awhile.

Bosch painted during the early part of the Northern Renaissance. At first glance, his painting seems somewhat typical of this period. For one, the figures are thin and stylized, somewhat two-dimensional (still very Medieval, since this was only the beginning of the Renaissance in the Netherlands). The use of perspective and the smaller figures in the background is one of those typical Renaissance-y features. Also, it's a religious painting. It's supposed to depict creation in the first panel, the fall of man into sin and decadence in the second panel, then the punishment in Hell for such sin.

That seems pretty religious and all, right? However, if you take a look at the painting, that just doesn't seem to be the main focus. Bosch had way too much fun drawing the sin panel, and then the punishment panel. The Garden of Eden panel, supposedly the most holy, is pretty boring. All the action is in the second two panels. In the Earthly Delights panel (which is also the largest and central panel and the one the whole painting is named after), you see a lot of freaky stuff. Nudity, fornication, bestiality. All drawn in weird detail. Not necessary to get the point across, just over the top for fun. And incredibly interesting to look at.

As for the subject matter, where do all these giant birds and flying fish come from? Oversided fruit floating in water surrouding weird rock formations. Even in the first panel, you see some alien three-headed birds, unicorns, and other strange creatures. The Hell panel depicts half a man (probably Bosch himself) with tree legs and people climbing ladders into his torso. A bird sits on a throne, eating people and pooping them out into a hole. This stuff comes out of nowhere. A lot of this has a very Dali-like feel to it, as he was one of the artistic leaders in surrealism, a movement taking the form in the artistic sphere of unconscious and imaginative images. These images are often rendered somewhat realistically, but don't have much of a basis in reality. Not surprisingly, Dali actually got a lot of his inspiration from Bosch himself.

So if he was really the forerunner of surrealism, which would not come until over 400 years later, where did he get this stuff from? I dunno, some sources say drugs. Or maybe he was just unique.

In my paper, I also talked about other paintings to make a better case, but I can't remember all that. Dude, I like art history. Too bad I can't major in everything, like I want to.

I leave you with one question. Two years ago, I bought a poster of this painting, cause I am oddly attached to it. I've never hung the poster up, cause let's face it, it's creepy. What should I do with it?