There are few other artworks as dense, imaginative, and, at times, preposterous as Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights. It’s perhaps for these reasons that the non-profit and educational resource Smarthistory dedicated its newest video to the renowned triptych. Across fifteen minutes, Smarthistory hosts Beth Harris and Steven Zucker mine the sprawling composition of its symbolism, tracing the narrative thread that binds each of the triptych’s three panels.
The pair begins with the artwork’s left-most panel, in which God presents Adam to Eve, an encounter that, in the biblical canon, represents humanity’s origin. Though familiar at first, this moment quickly defies our expectations, withholding the “temptation” that Harris and Zucker claim is essential to the scene: the apple. Instead, there are countless animals—mythic and real alike—scattered across the canvas, alongside a massive, flesh-colored structure rising out from a body of water and decorated with lush, organic forms that communicate a level of fecundity and growth. It’s an altogether peaceful environment, devoid of the chaos that defines the rest of The Garden of Earthly Delights.
For Harris and Zucker, the triptych’s center panel demands the most rigorous analysis. After all, this panel practically vibrates with detail, teeming with oversized animals, succulent fruits, and, as Harris puts it, “frolicking, oblivious figures engaged in all sorts of carnal pleasures.” Bosch offers us a fantastical land of sensuality, and, Zucker suggests, a sort of “alternative story” to that of the Bible.
“What if the temptation had not taken place? What if Adam and Eve had remained innocent and had populated the world? And so, is it possible that what we’re seeing is that reality, played out in Bosch’s imagination?”
Maybe so. But the composition is so frenzied that it “confounds our ability to even talk about what we see,” Harris says.
“[Bosch’s] imagination has run wild,” she adds. “He’s just invented so many things here that we could never even have thought about in our wildest imaginations.”
Here, Zucker references one art historical theory, in which Bosch had strived to elevate visual art beyond the representational and instead into the inventiveness found in literature from the same period.
“There was a long tradition that allowed authors to be wildly inventive,” Zucker explains, “but because painting is representative, and because painting has always been in the service of religion, it was inherently more conservative.”
Finally, the pair arrives at the third panel, which, when compared to the center, boasts a composition much more in line with other interpretations of hell and damnation. What intrigues Harris and Zucker the most are the outrageous torture devices Bosch has invented, ranging from massive instruments to a strange, bird-like creature that swallows and subsequently defecates out humans into a large pit. They also consider the “tree man,” whose hollow body features a tavern that evokes drinking, gambling, prostitution, and other supposed sins. Overall, it’s both a grotesque and deeply compelling composition, inviting its viewer to grasp each of its unusual images.
“In this representation, we don’t need the apple,” Zucker concludes. “All we need is Adam’s lustful gaze as he’s introduced to Eve.”
To watch the full video, visit Smarthistory’s YouTube page.
Smarthistory’s newest video explores the rich symbolism within Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights.
“The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch. (Photo: Museo del Prado, Public domain)
Throughout, Smarthistory hosts Beth Harris and Steven Zucker consider each of the triptych’s panels, highlighting the inventiveness behind Bosch’s imagery and compositions.
Detail from second panel of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch. (Photo: Museo del Prado, Public domain)
Detail from first panel of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch. (Photo: Museo del Prado, Public domain)
Detail from third panel of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch. (Photo: Museo del Prado, Public domain)
Detail from third panel of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch. (Photo: Museo del Prado, Public domain)
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