Homemade Pinatas of Creatures from Bosch Garden of Earthly Delights

Surreal Creatures from Bosch’s ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ Come to Life as Festive Piñatas

A master of the macabre, Hieronymus Bosch is known for his chaotic paintings of surreal scenes. One fantasy-filled piece that perfectly captures his wild imagination is The Garden of Earthly Delights, a triptych featuring otherworldly settings and odd hybrid creatures. Though it was created between 1490 and 1510, this whimsical work of art continues to inspire artists today, as evident in Roberto Benavidez‘s quirky collection of peculiar piñatas.

Directly inspired by the beasts featured in The Garden of Earthly Delights, the American artist's piñatas put a strange spin on the papier-mâché party supply. Each crepe paper creation reimagines a two-dimensional figure as a life-sized sculpture. While many of the outlandish animals explored by Benavidez are based on birds, the series also features a two-legged, dog-like critter, a black-and-white giraffe, and a lamenting frog with only hind-legs.

As a self-described figurative sculptor, Benavidez plays with “themes of race, sexuality, art, sin, humor, and beauty” in his oeuvre. With these thematic interests, it is no surprise that he was drawn to Bosch's allegorical and often religion-based body of work. Given the creative capabilities and uniqueness of Benavidez's “sculpturally elegant and fantastical piñatas,” Bosch's curious creatures are able to effortlessly come to life as contemporary works of art.