Garden of Earthly Delights

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Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights, 1480
Throughout history, artists have long been trying to present their audience the premonition of the coming apocalypse. In Hieronymus Bosch's mind, human's original sin rests on their lust and desire, which eventually leads humans to hell. Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch provides a hallucinatory warning against a life of lustful pleasure. From left to right, the triptych depicts Christ blessing the union of Adam and Eve, a world of debauchery, and the doom that inevitably follows. Bosch's message is Christian, yet his way is profane.

In the middle panel, young people are talking and interacting with each other and with plants and animals. Animalism, temptation, and other bizarre behaviors are ubiquitously exhibited in front of our eyes. In the middle ground, young men riding on horse-like animals, circle around the bathing women in a round pound--a rite that was viewed as symbols of heresy and passion by Bosch's contemporaries. In the background, structures in pink and blue are depicted in an organic manner, and again, with sexual innuendo. Even in the wildest dream wouldn't one imagine such a phantasmagoria of outlandish phenomena. Critics commonly believe Bosch here depicts a false paradise, where all physical desire is fulfilled in exchange of human reason and soul.

I was amazed by the unique way that Bosch propagates his belief. This image is pretty surrealistic even in the eyes of the 21st century. However, the message that Bosch trying to preach here repels me. Under his brush, people animalized, sexuality as a sin floods, and humanity is on the verge of doom. On some level, the perverted false paradise and the sadistic panorama of the hell really demonstrates Bosch's pessimistic vision of the world, and maybe, his morbid mind as well. After all, who could deliberately depict such a image if he has not pictured it in his deepest mind? In a Freudian manner, like Dali did in the 20th century, one could argue that these images are surrealistic expressions of Bosch's repressed desire. If desires like these exist even in the most Christian heart, the question becomes not just "can you practice what you preach?" but rather "should we believe what you preach?"

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