Hieronymus Bosch - The Garden of Earthly Delights

Title: The Garden of Earthly Delights
Artist: Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516)
Date: c.1490-1510
Medium: Oil on oak panel triptych
Dimensions: 206 × 385 cm

The outside wings (when the triptych is closed) figure a globe representing the planet Earth during Creation as explained in the Genesis, probably on Day 3- after light (day 1), the atmosphere (day 2), and dry ground and plant life (day3) but before the addition of the sun (day 4), animals and humans (day 5&6).

The open triptych reads from left to right. Bosch did not explain the meaning he gave to his imaginative scenes and symbols. One opinion is that the closed tripyich is the World in Creation. When the triptych is

, the left panel shows the moment after Eve is created, when she is brought unto the man by God (cf. Genesis 2.22). In the middle panel, the viewer sees how a Paradise on Earth would be like- bliss, communion with other humans and Nature, plentifulness, satisfaction of all senses, sexual pleasure. Then on the right panel is a degenerate world of destruction, persecution and of domination of mankind by animals and nature. Is that progression an inevitable outcome for Humankind? Or, is it the typical outcome of an individual’s life from innocence to corruption? Or, is it a dire warning to stay in check with religion or with government?...