Hieronymus Bosch

by olesia

Dec 12, 2025

Art History

Today we will look at the art of Hieronymus Bosch, created at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century in The Netherlands. He was an artist known for his fantastic and moralizing works. These works are more closely linked to medieval art and mentality than to the Renaissance. Bosch was very much a man of his times. His art was highly appreciated by his contemporaries and widely imitated. It was even forged from early on, indicating that he struck a chord. The differences between Bosch and other artists of the time remind me of something I want to comment on: the order that we impose on history as we analyze it from a distance is artificial. Art history, as a branch of the humanities, is not a summary or perfect reflection of events that happened; it’s a theory and an interpretation of those events that we develop to make sense of them. Bosch doesn’t fit easily into a history of art that looks for what is “modern” in each generation. But he was successful, and he stirred things up in the art world. His creativity makes him one of the most fascinating artists of his or any time. Bosch was born in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in The Netherlands. He married a wealthy woman and had no children, which may have allowed him the freedom to develop a very original way of painting. Due to the fantastic nature of his works, we could think of Bosch as an esoteric or marginal artist, but this was not the case. His works were owned by important courtiers and wealthy collectors. Scholars who have studied Bosch’s art have primarily focused on the interpretation of his pictures, and that’s where we will also concentrate. Bosch was inspired by medieval theology and art, as well as popular folklore in the form of tales, sayings, and proverbs. He also drew from his own imagination. This is *The Garden of Earthly Delights*. It’s a large painting, measuring 205 x 386 centimeters, painted around 1500. It is probably his most famous work. The painting has three sections, forming a triptych. This was a common format for religious works in churches, but it was unusual for a large private painting. When the side wings are closed, they show an image of the world created by God. When opened, we see these three scenes: on the left, there is an image of the earthly paradise with the creation of Adam and Eve; in the center, a world populated by young men and women engaged in playful activities; and on the right, hell. What we are offered is a highly pessimistic, paranoid view of life. Men and women are created innocent, in the image of God, but they are led to sin and chaos by the ubiquity of evil and the devil. The goal of the painting is to shed light on our sinful behavior and its consequences, and to make us realize that evil is everywhere. Let’s look in more detail at the painting. In the left panel, we see that the features of God are those usually associated with Christ. Notice also the feet of Adam; their position reminds us of the feet of Christ on the cross. The artist wants to plant in our minds the idea that faith in Christ is the way to avoid the consequences of evil. A bit further up, there is a strange pink fountain. And near its base, we see an owl. The owl, an animal of night and darkness, casts its evil eye on the world—even in paradise. To the right, a rock has the shape and features of a human head. This type of image by Bosch influenced surrealist painters in the early 20th century. The central scene of the triptych is very different from other paintings we’ve seen in this course. Neither perspective, size of figures, nor their placement guides our sight. We are given few hints about what is more or less important. The theme here is probably the sinful behavior of mankind. We are governed by our passions and lusts, and are thus distanced from God. But interpretations of Bosch’s works vary greatly. Some scholars believe that this shows a happy world that could have existed had we not sinned. Contemporary culture took pleasure in trying to decipher enigmatic texts and images, and it’s likely that many of Bosch’s paintings were designed with the idea of resisting interpretation. To a large extent, they still do. Despite how difficult it is in some cases to be sure of their meaning, Bosch’s images fuel our imagination, and we look at them with wonder. In the center, you can see a round pool full of seductive naked women. They are blonde and black, most with long hair, as seductive women were described in literature at the time. Around the pool, we see only young men. They ride on animals, symbols of their unruly passions. In the blue sphere at the middle of the lake, near the top, several figures are involved in erotic play. No children exist in this scene. The amorous activity we see does not lead to offspring. At the bottom right, a man who looks at us points to a woman with an apple in her hand. That the man looks at us suggests he’s a self-portrait of the artist. He seems to blame the woman for something—perhaps for sinning. She may be Eve. Spend some time looking at the figures’ interactions in this painting. It is full of unexpected things. At the top, for example, we see figures in acrobatic poses, as if they’ve come straight out of a circus. We don’t know why they are here. Very close to the center of the painting, just below the central pool, there’s a large egg. This is another of the many features of this image that we cannot explain. Here we see the rewards that await those who prefer a brief moment of pleasure to faith. A bird-headed monster seems like a king of this place. He eats humans and sits on what looks like a combination of a throne and a toilet. Near his feet, a tempting woman is embraced by a devil and looks at herself in a mirror on the buttocks of another monster. Below, a pig dressed as a nun seduces a man to get him to sign a will in her favor. Musical instruments look like instruments of torture. Two sinners are crucified on a hybrid between a lute and a harp. The tree man has long been seen as a self-portrait, though scholars are not entirely sure if he is. He looks at us with the attitude of an ironic commentator. He doesn’t take sides, but simply shows us what is there, what we are. Hell is dark, a night scene full of war, death, and devilish beings. This is another painting by Bosch, *The Haywain*. It tells a similar story, relating to a text from the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament: “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever.” The idea of this text is that we all pursue fleeting rewards instead of faith. In *The Haywain*, we see a huge wagon loaded with hay. It’s carried by monsters from the side of creation on the left wing of the triptych, towards the side of hell on the right wing. Bosch is great at painting characters we can believe in. At the bottom, near the signature, figures earn hay from their dishonest practices. Just above, a man cuts the throat of another who lies with arms spread wide. The spokes of the wagon will break the leg of another man nearby as it rolls on. He’s part of a group that fights for the hay. On top of the hay wagon, frolicking couples act frivolously, to the tune of music played by the devil. Music was often associated in painting with temptation and seduction. A man looks from behind a bush. It may be the artist or ourselves, the viewers. The angel is beautiful and innocent. He leads our sight towards heaven. Here’s the key to the whole scene: only faith in Christ can redeem humans. As in the previous painting, we find Bosch’s pessimistic view of life, but we also find that the spirit of the painting—its colors, the actions depicted—appears playful. There’s an explanation for this paradox: Bosch is a satirist. He criticizes the world through ridicule, exaggeration, and humor. Finally, take a close look at the landscape that extends into the distance.