Triptych "Garden of Earthly Delights" - the most famous and mysterious of the works of Bosch. In 1593, it was acquired by the Spanish king Philip II, who liked the artist's work. Since 1868 the triptych has been in the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid.
Garden of Earthly Delights Around 1500 Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain
The central part of the triptych is a panorama of a fantastic "garden of love", inhabited by many naked figures of men and women, unprecedented animals, birds and plants. Lovers shamelessly indulge in love pleasures in reservoirs, in incredible crystal structures, hiding under the peel of huge fruits or in shells.
Beasts of unnatural proportions, birds, fish, butterflies, algae, huge flowers and fruits mingled with human figures. 
In the composition of the Garden of Earthly Delights, three planes stand out:
in the foreground are "various joys". There is luxury pond and fountain, flowers of the absurd and castles of vanity. 
The second plan is occupied by a motley cavalcade of numerous naked horsemen who ride deer, griffins, panthers and wild boars - nothing more than a cycle of passions passing through a labyrinth of pleasures. 
The third (farthest) - is crowned with a blue sky, where people fly on winged fish and with the help of their own wings.
All these characters and scenes, taking place among intricate combinations of plants, rocks, fruits, glass spheres and crystals, are united among themselves not so much by the internal logic of the narrative as by symbolic connections, the meaning of which each new generation understood differently.
cherries, strawberries, strawberries and grapes, eaten with such joy by people, symbolize sinful sexuality, devoid of the light of divine love
birds become the personification of lust and debauchery, The love couple retired in a transparent bubble. A little higher, a young man hugs a huge owl, to the right of the bubble in the middle of the pool, in the water, another man stands on his head, legs wide apart, between which the birds have built a nest.
Not far from him, a young man, leaning out with his beloved from a pink hollow apple, feeds a monstrous bunch of grapes to people standing up to their necks in water. 
fish - a symbol of restless lust,
the shell is feminine. 
At the bottom of the picture, a young man hugged a huge strawberry. In Western European art, strawberry served as a symbol of purity and virginity. 
The scene with a bunch of grapes in the pool is a communion, and a giant pelican, picking up a cherry (a symbol of sensuality) on its long beak, teases people sitting in the bud of a fantastic flower with it. The pelican itself symbolizes love for one's neighbor.
The artist often gives the symbols of Christian art a concrete sensual sound, reducing them to the material and bodily plane. 
In the Tower of Adultery, which rises from the Lake of Lust and whose yellow-orange walls sparkle like crystal, deceived husbands sleep among the horns. The steel-coloured glass sphere in which lovers indulge in caresses is surmounted by a crescent-moon crown and pink marble horns. The sphere and the glass bell that shelters the three sinners illustrate the Dutch proverb: "Happiness and glass - how short-lived they are!". And they are also symbols of the heretical nature of sin and the dangers that it brings to the world. 
The left side of the "Garden of Delights" depicts the scene of the "Creation of Eve", and Paradise itself glitters and shimmers with bright, sparkling colors. 
Various animals graze among the green hills, against the backdrop of a fantastic landscape of Paradise, around a pond with a bizarre structure.
This is the Fountain of Life, from which various creatures emerge onto land. 
In the foreground, near the Tree of Knowledge, the master shows the awakening Adam. Adam, who has just woken up, rises from the ground and looks in amazement at Eve, whom God shows him.
The well-known art critic C. de Tolnay notes that the surprised look that Adam throws at the first woman is already a step on the path to sin. And Eve, extracted from Adam's rib, is not just a woman, but also an instrument of seduction.
As usual with Bosch, no idyll exists without an omen of evil, and we see a pit of dark water, a cat with a mouse in its mouth (the cat is cruelty, the devil) 
Several incidents cast a dark shadow on the peaceful life of animals: a lion devours a deer, a wild boar pursues a mysterious beast.
And above it all rises the Source of Life - a hybrid of a plant and a marble rock, a soaring Gothic structure set on the dark blue stones of a small island. At the very top of it is still a barely noticeable crescent, but already from inside it peeps out, like a worm, an owl - a messenger of misfortune. 
The fabulous paradise of the central panel gives way to the nightmare of Hell, in which the excitement of passion is transformed into the madness of suffering. The right wing of the triptych - Hell - is dark, gloomy, disturbing, with separate flashes of light piercing the darkness of the night, and with sinners who are tormented by some kind of giant musical instruments. 
As always with Bosch when depicting Hell, the burning city serves as a backdrop, but here the buildings not only do not burn, but rather they explode, throwing out jets of fire. The main theme is chaos, in which normal relationships are turned upside down, and ordinary objects. 
In the center of Hell there is a huge figure of a monster, this is a kind of "guide" through Hell - the main "narrator". Its legs are hollow tree trunks, and they rest on two ships.
Satan's body is an open eggshell, on the brim of his hat, demons and witches either walk or dance with sinful souls ... Or they lead people guilty of unnatural sin around a huge bagpipe (a symbol of the masculine principle). 
Around the ruler of Hell, the punishment of sins takes place: one sinner was crucified, pierced with the strings of a harp; next to him, a red-bodied demon conducts a rehearsal of an infernal orchestra from notes written on the buttocks of another sinner. Musical instruments (as a symbol of voluptuousness and depravity) are turned into instruments of torture. 
A bird-headed monster sits in a high chair, punishing gluttons and gluttons. He put his feet in beer jugs, and a bowler hat is put on his bird's head. And he punishes the sinners by devouring them and then they plunge into the pit, the glutton is forced to continuously vomit into the pit, the monsters caress the conceited woman. 
The gate of Hell represents the third stage of the fall, when the earth itself turned into hell. Items that previously served sin have now become instruments of punishment. These chimeras of bad conscience have all the specific meanings of the sexual symbols of dreams.
The harmless rabbit (in the picture it exceeds the size of a person) in Christianity was a symbol of the immortality of the soul and abundance. At Bosch, he plays the horn and lowers the sinner head down into the infernal fire. 
Below, on an icy lake, a man balances on a large horse, which carries him to the ice hole. A huge key attached to the shaft by a monk betrays the latter's desire for marriage, which is forbidden for members of the clergy.
A helpless male figure struggles with the amorous advances of a pig, dressed as a nun. 
"In this horror there is no salvation for those who are steeped in sins," Bosch says pessimistically.
On the outer surface of the closed doors, the artist depicted the Earth on the third day of creation. It is shown as a transparent sphere half filled with water. Out of the dark moisture, the outlines of land protrude. In the distance, in the cosmic darkness, the Creator appears, watching the birth of a new world... 
9 And God said, Let the waters that are under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it became so.
10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters he called seas. And God saw that [it] was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, herb yielding seed, fruitful tree yielding fruit after its kind, in which is its seed, on the earth. And it became so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is its seed after its kind. And God saw that [it] was good.
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
Old Testament Genesis 1
The format of the triptych is traditional for Dutch altarpieces, but the content shows that Bosch did not intend it for the church.
The canvases of the Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch are recognizable for their fantastic plots and delicate details. One of the most famous and ambitious works of this artist is the triptych "Garden of Earthly Delights", which for more than 500 years has been controversial among art lovers around the world.
1. The triptych is named after its central panel
In three parts of one picture, Bosch tried to depict the entire human experience - from earthly life to the afterlife. The left panel of the triptych depicts heaven, the right - hell. In the center is the Garden of Earthly Delights.
2. The date of creation of the triptych is unknown
Bosch never dated his works, which complicates the work of art historians. Some claim that Bosch began painting The Garden of Earthly Delights in 1490, when he was about 40 years old (his exact year of birth is also unknown, but it is assumed that the Dutchman was born in 1450). And the grandiose work was completed between 1510 and 1515.3. "Paradise"
Art critics claim that the Garden of Eden is depicted at the time of the creation of Eve. In the picture, it looks like an untouched land inhabited by mysterious creatures, among which you can even see unicorns.4. Hidden meaning
Some art historians believe that the middle panel depicts people who have gone mad for their sins, who miss their chance to gain eternity in heaven. Bosch depicted lust with many naked figures engaged in frivolous activities. It is believed that flowers and fruits symbolize the temporary pleasures of the flesh. Some have even suggested that the glass dome, which covers several lovers, symbolizes the Flemish saying "Happiness is like glass - it breaks once."
5. Garden of Earthly Delights = Paradise Lost?
A rather popular interpretation of the triptych is that it is not a warning, but a statement of fact: a person has lost the right path. According to this interpretation, the images on the panels should be viewed sequentially from left to right, and not consider the central panel as a fork between hell and paradise.6. Secrets of the painting
The side panels of the heaven and hell triptych can be folded over to cover the central panel. The outer side of the side panels depicts the last part of the "Garden of Earthly Delights" - the image of the World on the third day after creation, when the Earth is already covered with plants, but there are no animals or humans yet.Since this image is essentially an introduction to what is depicted on the interior panel, it is done in a monochrome style known as grisaille (this was common in triptychs of the era, and was intended not to detract from the colors of the interior being exposed).
7. The Garden of Earthly Delights is one of three similar triptychs that Bosch created.
Bosch's two thematic triptychs, similar to the Garden of Earthly Delights, are The Last Judgment and The Hay Cart. Each of them can be viewed in chronological order from left to right: the biblical creation of man in the Garden of Eden, modern life and its disorder, the terrible consequences in hell.8. One part of the picture shows Bosch's devotion to the family.
Very few reliable facts have been preserved about the life of the Dutch artist of the early Renaissance, but it is known that his father and grandfather were also artists. Bosch's father Antonius van Aken was also an adviser to the Illustrious Brotherhood of the Blessed Virgin, a group of Christians who worshiped the Virgin Mary. Shortly before starting work on The Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch followed the example of his father and also joined the brotherhood.
9. Although the triptych is religious, it was not painted for a church.
Although the artist's work is clearly made with a religious theme, it was too strange to be exhibited in a religious institution. It is much more likely that the work was created for a wealthy patron, possibly a member of the Illustrious Brotherhood of the Blessed Virgin.10. The painting may have been very popular at the time.
The "Garden of Earthly Delights" was first mentioned in history in 1517, when the Italian chronicler Antonio de Beatis noted this unusual canvas in the Brussels Palace of the House of Nassau.11. The word of God is shown in the picture with two hands
The first scene is shown in Paradise, where God, raising his right hand, leads Eve to Adam. The Hell panel has exactly the same gesture, but the hand points dying players to hell below.12. The colors of the painting also have a hidden meaning.
Pink color symbolizes divinity and the source of life. The blue color refers to the Earth, as well as earthly pleasures (for example, people eat blue berries from blue dishes and frolic in blue ponds). Red represents passion. Brown symbolizes the mind. And finally, green, which is ubiquitous in "Paradise", is almost completely absent in "Hell" - it symbolizes kindness.
13. The triptych is much bigger than everyone thinks
The triptych "Garden of Earthly Delights" is actually just huge. The dimensions of its central panel are about 2.20 x 1.89 meters, and each side panel is 2.20 x 1 meter. The unfolded width of the triptych is 3.89 meters.14. Bosch made a hidden self-portrait in a painting
This is just a guess, but art historian Hans Belting has suggested that Bosch depicted himself on the Hell panel, split in two. According to this interpretation, the artist is a man whose body resembles a cracked eggshell, smiling ironically while looking at the scenes of hell.15. Bosch earned a reputation as an innovative surrealist thanks to the "Garden of Earthly Delights"
Until the 1920s, before the advent of Bosch admirer Salvador Dali, surrealism was not popular. Some modern critics call Bosch the father of surrealism, because he wrote 400 years before Dali.
In continuation of the theme of mysterious paintings, we will tell you about something - the most mysterious of all strangers.
Hieronymus Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights. 1505-1510
When you first look at one of the most mysterious paintings by Bosch, you rather have mixed feelings: it attracts and fascinates with an accumulation of a large number of unusual details. At the same time, it is impossible to understand the meaning of this accumulation of details both in aggregate and separately.
There is nothing surprising in such an impression: most of the details are saturated with symbols that are not known to modern man. Only Bosch's contemporaries could solve this artistic puzzle.
Let's try and figure it out. Let's start with the general meaning of the picture. It consists of four parts.
Closed doors of a triptych. world creation
Hieronymus Bosch. Closed doors of the triptych "Creation of the World". 1505-1510 The first part (closed doors of the triptych). According to the first version - the image of the third day of the creation of the world. There are no humans and animals on earth yet, rocks and trees have just appeared from the water. The second version is the end of our world, after the universal flood. In the upper left corner is God contemplating his creation.
Left wing of the triptych. Paradise
Hieronymus Bosch. Paradise (left wing of the triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights”). 1505-1510 Second part (left wing of the triptych). Image of a scene in Paradise. God shows the surprised Adam Eve, just created from his rib. Around - recently created by God animals. In the background is the Fountain and the lake of life, from which the first creatures of our world emerge.
The central part of the triptych. The Garden of Earthly Delights
Hieronymus Bosch. The central part of the triptych. 1505-1510 . The third part (the central part of the triptych). An image of the earthly life of people who massively indulge in the sin of voluptuousness. The artist shows that the fall is so serious that people cannot get out on a more righteous path. He conveys this idea to us with the help of a kind of procession in a circle:
People on various animals move around the lake of carnal pleasures, unable to choose another path. Therefore, according to the artist, their only destiny after death is Hell, which is depicted on the right wing of the triptych.
Right wing of the triptych. Hell
Hieronymus Bosch. Right wing of the triptych “Hell”. 1505-1510 Fourth part (right wing of the triptych). An image of hell in which sinners experience eternal torment. In the middle of the picture - a strange creature from a hollow egg, with legs in the form of tree trunks with a human face - presumably this is a guide to Hell, the main demon. For the torment of which sinners he is responsible, read the article.
This is the general meaning of the warning picture. The artist shows us how easy it is to fall into sin and end up in Hell, despite the fact that once humanity was born in Paradise.
Bosch painting symbols
Why so many characters and symbols?
I really like Hans Belting's theory on this, put forward in 2002. Based on his research, Bosch did not create this painting for a church, but for a private collection. Allegedly, the artist had an agreement with the buyer that he would intentionally create a rebus painting. The future owner intended to entertain his guests, who would guess the meaning of this or that scene in the picture.
In the same way, we can now unravel the fragments of the picture. However, without understanding the symbols adopted in Bosch's time, it is very difficult for us to do this. Let's deal with at least some of them, so that it would be more interesting to “read” the picture.
Eating “voluptuous” berries and fruits is one of the main symbols of lust. That is why there are so many of them in the Garden of Earthly Delights.
People are in glass spheres or under a glass dome. There is a Dutch proverb that says that love is as short-lived and fragile as glass. The depicted spheres are just covered with cracks. Perhaps the artist sees in this fragility also the path to the fall, since adultery is inevitable after a short period of love.
Sins of the Middle Ages
It is also difficult for a modern person to interpret the depicted torments of sinners (on the right wing of the triptych). The fact is that in our minds, passion for idle music or stinginess (frugality) is not perceived as something bad, in contrast to how people in the Middle Ages perceived it.
The most enigmatic artist of the Northern Renaissance, perhaps, kept a fig in his pocket all his life: the beliefs of a secret heretic are encrypted in the paintings of a faithful Catholic. Contemporaries guess about it, Bosch would surely have been sent to the stake
Painting "The Garden of Earthly Delights"
Wood, oil. 220 x 389 cm
Years of creation: 1490–1500 or 1500–1510
Stored in the Prado Museum in Madrid
Jeroen van Aken, who signed his paintings "Hieronymus Bosch", was considered quite a respectable person in 's-Hertogenbosch. He was the only one of the artists who was in the pious urban society, the brotherhood of Our Lady, at the Cathedral of St. John. However, the artist, perhaps until his death, misled his fellow citizens and customers. Suspicions that a heretic was hiding under the guise of a good Catholic were expressed as early as the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. The historian and art historian Wilhelm Frenger suggested in the middle of the 20th century that the painter belonged to the Adamite sect. Linda Harris, a contemporary researcher of Bosch's work, hypothesized that he was an adherent of the Cathar heresy.
The Cathars taught that the Old Testament Jehovah, the creator of the material universe, is in fact the Prince of Darkness, and that matter is evil. The souls of the angels deceived by him fell from the spiritual world to the earth. Some became demons, others, who still have a chance for salvation, were drawn into a series of rebirths in the bodies of people. The Cathars rejected the teachings and rituals of Catholics, considering all this to be the creation of the devil. For several centuries, the church eradicated the heresy that had spread throughout Europe, and by the end of the 15th century, the Cathars were almost nowhere to be heard. Bosch, according to Harris, intentionally distorting the canonical plots in the paintings, encoded in numerous symbols a secret message to future generations about his true faith.
So, on the left wing of the Garden of Earthly Delights triptych, Bosch depicted Eden in the days of the creation of the first people, when the souls of angels fell into the trap of mortal flesh. The central part, Harris believes, is the same Eden, but of the present time: souls get there between reincarnations, and demons seduce them with earthly temptations so that the former angels forget about the spiritual world and want to incarnate again in the material. The right wing is hell, where, after the Last Judgment, everyone who has not managed to break the chain of rebirths will fall.
1 Christ.
The Cathars considered Jesus to be the antagonist of the Prince of Darkness, the Savior, who reminds fallen souls of the spiritual world and helps them get out of the shackles of the material. It is usually believed that on the left wing of the triptych, Bosch depicted how God presents Eve created from a rib to Adam, but Linda Harris believes that the artist painted Christ warning Adam against earthly temptations, the embodiment of which is the first woman.
2 Cat and mouse.
The animal that fell into the teeth of a predator is a hint of souls trapped in the material world.
3 Owl. The night bird of prey featured in most of Bosch's paintings is the Prince of Darkness watching people fall into his snares again and again.
4 Fountain of Spiritual Death.
A parody of the fountain of living water, an image from the Christian iconography of Eden. The spring water symbolized the salvation of mankind by faith, the rites of baptism and communion. The Cathars rejected the rituals, in their opinion, false religion, even more tightly connecting souls with matter. In Bosch's painting, a sphere is built into the fountain - a symbol of peace. The insidious creator of the universe looks out of it in the form of an owl.
5 People.
The amorous amusements of careless sinners in the bosom of nature, according to Walter Bosing, an expert on the work of Bosch, are a reference to the courtly plot “garden of love”, popular in those days. But the Cathar will see here souls indulging in base carnal pleasures in an illusory "paradise" in anticipation of new incarnations.
6 Pearl.
In the teachings of the Cathars and their ideological predecessors, the Manicheans, Harris argues, she symbolized the soul, the luminous core from the spiritual world, preserved by the fallen angel on earth. With the multiplication of the number of people, these souls were divided, more and more immersed in matter, therefore Bosch depicted pearls scattered in the mud.
7 Musical instruments.
The Italian art historian Federico Zeri believed that the artist placed them in hell, since the expression "corporeal music" was well known to people of that time and meant voluptuousness. The Cathars, on the other hand, considered lust the worst of sins also because because of it new people are born - captives of the material world.
8 Strawberries.
Art historian Elena Igumnova notes that in the time of Bosch, this berry was considered an alluring fruit without real taste and symbolized illusory pleasures. There are many other berries and fruits in the picture - they all mean earthly temptations.
9 Round dance riders. Linda Harris believes that it symbolizes the circle of reincarnation into which souls are drawn due to earthly passions.
10 Tree of Death. It consists of objects symbolizing the mortal earthly shell - a dried tree and an empty shell. According to Harris, for Bosch, this monster plant personifies the true essence of the material world, revealed by the Last Judgment.
Artist
Hieronymus Bosch
Between 1450 and 1460 - was born in the Duchy of Brabant in the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, or Den-Bos, after which he took the pseudonym Bosch.
Around 1494 or 1495 * - wrote the triptych "Adoration of the Magi".
Until 1482 - married a wealthy aristocrat Aleid van de Merwenne.
1486–1487 - entered the brotherhood of Our Lady at the Cathedral of St. John in 's-Hertogenbosch.
1501–1510 - created the painting "The Seven Deadly Sins", according to one version, which served as a countertop.
1516 - died (presumably from the plague), buried in the Cathedral of St. John in 's-Hertogenbosch.
* There are discrepancies in the dating of Bosch's paintings. "Around the World" hereinafter cites information from the website of the Prado Museum, where the artist's works mentioned in the article are located.
Hell - Hieronymus Bosch (Part of the triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights"). 1500-1510. Wood, oil. 389 x 220 cm
Hell is the right wing of the artist's most famous triptych called The Garden of Earthly Delights. Under this lyrical name lies a far from cute and idyllic picture. In fact, the triptych is made quite in the style of Bosch - terrible visions, grotesque figures, terrible images are almost everywhere here.
In the artist's vision, hell appears as a monstrous surreal place. The right wing of the triptych is often referred to by critics as the “Musical Hell” due to the fact that a wide variety of musical instruments are used here. However, one should not hope that they are used for their intended purpose. In fact, they are not even played by the devils, as one might suspect. Bosch decided to use ways of using them that are completely far from the direct purpose of musical instruments. In most cases, they act as torture devices.
For example, the artist's harp plays the role of a cross for crucifixion or a rack - an unfortunate sinner is flattened on it. An innocent lute has become the subject of torture for another poor fellow, who lies face down. It is interesting that notes are printed on his buttocks, according to which an absolutely unimaginable choir sings - cursed, led by a conductor with a fish "face".
The foreground of the picture is able to shock even a modern person hardened by “horror films”. A rabbit is dragging a man with an open stomach, who is tied to a pole. At the same time, a stream of blood literally beats out of the poor fellow. The predatory rabbit looks very peaceful, and this is a truly monstrous contrast compared to what he does and what his action should imply in the future.
The abnormality of this place is emphasized by the incredible size of berries and fruits scattered here and there throughout the door. When you look at this, it is not clear who is eating whom here - people are berries or people are berries? The world turned upside down and became hell.
A frozen pond with a polynya, where a sinner rushes on a huge horse, people flying into the world like brainless midges, a man sharpening in a door lock - all these images are allegorical and, of course, were understandable to the artist's contemporaries. Some of what he saw is quite possible to interpret and interpret in our days, but already from the point of view of a person of modernity, and not of the late Middle Ages.
Interestingly, the researcher of Bosch's work was able to decipher the notes engraved on the fifth point of the sinner. It turns out that the artist recorded a quite coherent melody that can be played and listened to. But this is the only normal real element in the delusional world of his hell.