The Garden of Earthly Delights

Paper Summary:

The following essay suggests that we view "The Garden of Earthly Delights" scene, and especially the middle panel of the triptych, as being either a scene of elevated spirituality or one of unconscious desire rather the out-and-out orgy that it is often depicted as being.

From the Paper:

"We are so accustomed to thinking of Hieronymus Bosch as the painter of devils and of the torments of humans that we forget that this description of his work may in fact not even be true. A closer examination of his work, for example, his most famous painting, "The Garden of Earthly Delights" suggests an ambiguity about his work that it is not usually credited with. His vision of humanity and life is certainly not one of unmitigated sweetness, but nor is his assessment of the human condition unmitigatedly dark."

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