Hieronymus Bosch: The Precursor to Surrealism

     In Agustín Fuentes’ book The Creative Spark, he includes an anecdote about viewing Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights at Madrid’s Museo del Prado and being completely overwhelmed by its complexity, chaos, and allure. I had a similar experience seeing this painting in person for the first time last spring.

The Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych, meaning it is made up of three panels, painted in oil by the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch around the year 1500. The three scenes from left to right represent Eden, the false paradise of love, and Hell. The overarching theme of the painting is the sin of lust, beginning with the original sin of Adam and Eve on the left, humans engaging in lustful sin and earthly delights in the center panel, and the grisly punishment for this sin in Hell shown on the right. Bosch depicts these scenes with distorted human figures, disproportionately large animals, and a curious landscape. 

The middle panel is arguably the most complex and relates most directly to the painting’s title. This scene features the same landscape visible in Eden in the left panel, establishing this environment as a false paradise. In this scene, dozens of nude human figures partake in sin, many of whom are shown eating large pieces of fruit, which relates to the original sin of eating the forbidden fruit. The horsemen in the middle ground that encircle the pool in the center represent different cardinal sins, according to the Museo del Prado. Finally, the architectural amalgamations in the background parallel the tower in the left panel, but are broken up, to represent the temporary nature of the pleasure derived from sin. On the right, the paradisiacal landscape has been destroyed, and the human figures suffer amidst surreal, distorted objects as they pay the price for their sin on earth.

Central panel of The Garden...

X-ray of the central panel

Scholars have taken a closer look at this painting through X-ray and infrared imaging technology, which allows the layers of paint to be visible on the canvas. This has provided insight into Bosch’s creative process, at least on the canvas, and points to an improvisational technique. The many layers of paint that were revealed show his process of painting and reworking the subject matter. It is possible that Bosch developed and experimented with the various fantastical elements of the painting directly on the canvas, allowing for a more liberated process. In the end, it seems Bosch was satisfied with the crowded, distorted scenes shown in the triptych, which ended up being one of his greatest masterpieces. 

Despite gaps in what scholars know about Bosch’s life and career, it is safe to say that his paintings were innovative for the 16th-century Netherlands. The majority of his pieces center around religious iconography or messages, which was the norm for painting at the time, but his added proto-surrealist creativity was quite innovative. Bosch was born around 1450 into a family of many generations of artists, meaning he had access to resources and training at an early age. He married a wealthy woman around 1480, which allowed him to establish his own workshop and begin painting commissioned works for donors and patrons. By 1499, there is record that Bosch hired an assistant, marking his success as an artist during his lifetime. 

Fuentes writes, “Art is a core creative outcome of the transcendent nature of being human. Art is much more than a product, an activity, or a process, it is a way of being in the world that essentially rises above practical worldly concerns” (219). I agree with these statements and think that Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights is a wonderful example of the seemingly endless capacity of human creativity. Bosch carried on the tradition of religious content in high art, but added a fantastical lens unique to his creativity that would go on to inspire the surrealist movement that is foundational to the modern understanding of art. Creating art was a large part of Bosch’s life as his career and source of income, but the impact of his pieces over 500 years later proves the transcendental capacity of art far beyond monetary benefit. 

Margaret Carroll. “Time and Transformation: Hieronymus Bosch’s Process.” Yale University Press, 9 Aug. 2022, yalebooks.yale.edu/2022/08/09/time-and-transformation-hieronymus-boschs-process/.

Selvin, Claire. “Hieronymus Bosch: His Life, Early Works & Best Paintings.” ARTnews, 2020, www.artnews.com/feature/hieronymus-bosch-life-early-works-best-paintings-1202685134/.

Silva Maroto, Pilar. “The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych.” Museo Del Prado, 2016, www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-garden-of-earthly-delights-triptych/02388242-6d6a-4e9e-a992-e1311eab3609.