Exploring Hieronymus Bosch: The Garden of Earthly Delights | Art Class for All Levels

Hello, welcome to my channel and welcome to another art class. This one is going to be about Hieronymus Bosch and his very famous painting The Garden of Earthly Delights. As usual I will start with an introduction about the artist, then we will analyze the painting and then I will propose an exercise and then I will show you how I responded to the exercise. So let's get started. Hieronymus Bosch was born around 1450 and died at 1516 and he was a Dutch painter of the early Netherlandish school, famous for his fantastical, often unsettling imagery filled with allegory, symbolism and moral warnings. Now let's dive a little bit into his life, even though there's not much information, there are very few documents that inform us about his life, but we know a few things. So he was born Hieronymus van Haken in Sertogenbosch, in modern day Netherlands. He came from a family of painters and he married a woman from an upper class family. Something that indicates that he was from upper class after marrying his wife is some documents of taxes, so they demonstrate that he and his wife paid a high level of city taxes, which means they were wealthy. We also know that he was very, very religious and he was part of the brotherhood of Our Lady and he entered as a regular member, but then a few years later he was in a position that was only reserved for elite people. Then he died in 1516, leaving behind relatively few works, about 20 to 25 paintings that are securely attributed to him. Because there are many paintings that were attributed to him in the past, but after analysis and tests, for example, it was proved that the wood where the painting was made didn't correspond to Hieronymus lifetime, so it couldn't be him. Some of his recurring themes include sin and morality, especially lust, greedy and folly, hell and damnation, vivid terrifying depictions of punishment, as we are going to see in the painting that we are going to analyze, the fragility of humanity, humans caught in between temptation and salvation, and allegory and symbolism, everyday objects turning into surreal and moralizing imagery. Even though Bosch was very famous during his lifetime and his work was recognized, he had many clients, and even after his death he was still popular, at some point his popularity declined, so this happened by the end of the 16th century in Europe. Painters lost their interest in pre-reformation Christian themes that occupied Bosch, and his work was later seen as medieval and superstitious. Even in his hometown, the memory of Bosch's work was diminished because in the 1600s, Stuttgart-Bosch became a protestant city under the Dutch Republic. Churches were stripped of their heretical catholic decorations, a process that may have destroyed many Bosch's artworks, because as I mentioned before, he was part of the brotherhood, he's very famous during his lifetime, so he may have produced many paintings to local churches. But of course, it left a legacy, and Bosch was enormously influential, inspiring later painters like Peter Progel the Elder, and centuries later, the surrealists artists like Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst were inspired by his work. And his art continues to fascinate, because it straddles the boundary between medieval religious morality and the deeply imaginative, almost modern visual imagination. And now let's dive into the garden of earthly delights. Made for a private home, this triptych reflects the moral and philosophical preoccupations of society during the northern renaissance, yet it is also an astonishing departure from the art being produced at the time. Rich in fantastical symbolism and allegory, it explores the themes of paradise, temptation, and the consequences of sin described in the Bible. The left panel shows Adam and Eve in Eden, the central panel depicts a false paradise in which sin and lust prevail, and the right panel illustrates hell, where grotesque creatures In terms of composition, despite its apparent chaos, each panel contains a background, middle ground, and foreground, with most of the details reserved for the latter. Now before getting into a more detailed analysis, I would like to share with you some paragraphs of this book that I bought at the Prada Museum, that I visited recently, where I saw in real life this painting, and so I'm going to read a few paragraphs that illustrate what we are talking about. So the painting was constructed as a triptych, a format typically reserved for churches, but the work's sensual, often shocking imagery indicates that it was never intended as an object of worship. Scholars have long argued over the meaning of Bosch's imagery. Most triptych paintings are meant to be read from left to right. In Bosch's day, the viewer's eye would have focused initially on Adam and Eve in the left panel. The two are being joined by God, who is represented in form of Jesus Christ. Bosch's Garden of Eden is particularly verdant, swarming with exotic animals and plants, most of which were inspired by early travelogues, etchings, and illuminated manuscripts from travelers who have been to northern Africa and the Middle East. And this is very interesting, because while I was at the museum looking at the painting, I wondered where did he get inspired to paint with so much detail these plants, trees, and even animals. And it's very interesting to discover that he was inspired by travelogues that were made by people that, at the time, were traveling around the world. And so it continues saying, this lush world extends into the central panel, which depicts a garden of delights. Here, descendants of Adam and Eve, while still in cloth, no longer appear innocent and devoted to God's teachings. Their engagement in erotic pleasures suggests the beginnings of sin and decadence. Oversized figures of owls, a common theme in Bosch's art, may indicate an ominous future, a future realized in image of El in the right panel. The fall of man is now complete, as the once playful animals and plants have been transformed into demons meting out God's punishment. Now let's have a look at some details that I selected. On the left-hand panel, as I mentioned, is represented Adam and Eve. And I selected a particular part that has a snake coiled around the palm tree, while it's actually a serpent. And it symbolizes the temptation of commit sin. So it basically means that something is about to go wrong with Adam and Eve. Now on the second panel, there's scenes of intimacy and lust covering the entire panel. And I'm going to read a few sentences from the book. The people have warped God's command to be fruitful and multiply, using it as an excuse for lustfulness and sin. 15th century folklore often use birds and fruits as symbols for sexual appetite or sexual deviance. But very rarely in this period do we see the erotic side of human nature captured so boldly and directly. So this means that at the time this work by Bosch was groundbreaking. And yes, it's very interesting to see how he represents fruits and animals as symbols to topics that he wants to highlight or mention. Now on the right panel, we have basically hell represented. And I selected the part of the musical instruments because they were formerly objects of pleasure that became tools of torture. So I'm going to read a paragraph that explains the symbolism and the meaning behind these instruments. Music was often associated with courtly life in Renaissance, especially when it involved written notation and refined instruments such as the lute and harp. Bosch's patron, probably Count Henry III of Nassau, would have recognized the follies of his own class in these details. He would also have noticed the follies of ordinary people in Bosch's work. So this indicates that Bosch not only criticized the elite, but he also criticized people that were from a lower class. Then he says that the hell panel of earthly delights takes special aim at carnival festivities, when working-class town folk could mock and ridicule the social elite. Such festivals often involved folk music instruments, including the bagpipes and drums, as well as boating and other water sports, as we see in this detail. Carnival was also becoming increasingly raucous and violent in the Netherlandish world of 1500s. For Bosch and his wealthy clients, such activities were now worthy of reprimand in art. So Bosch created this painting, not to be worshipped, but as a moral warning. So if people saw this painting, they would be like, okay, if I fall into these earthly pleasures, I will end up in hell and being punished. Now there's a big detail that probably some people don't know. That is, when the triptych is closed, it looks like this. The closed panels of the triptych depict the third day of creation in shades of gray. According to the Bible's book of Genesis, this was when God separated the waters from the earth and created vegetation. God is shown sitting in the top left corner with the Bible on his lap. And I'll finish by reading a paragraph about this part. Bosch's mystical sober creation panels barely hint at this extravagant sensual fantasies even inside. By providing such a dramatic contrast between the external and internal triptych, Bosch heightened the emotional impact that viewers would experience when seeing the triptych open. And now let's jump into the exercise. So the idea is to make a concertina sketchbook like this with drawings inspired by what we see inside of the triptych. So this is the concertina sketchbook that I made. I decided to make a landscape format, but you can choose all the format that you want. So to create it, basically you can use an A4 sheet of paper. You fold it and cut in half and then fold these two parts. And then you can either glue these pages like this, creating this. Or to create an extra page, you can bend this part and then glue the other sheet of paper here. So it will create something like this, similar to my sketchbook. So this is the first part. You create your concertina sketchbook. Then you can add covers using cardboard. I used something like this that comes in the back cover of the blocks of paper. And then you can paint it and write on it. So feel free to decorate the cover as you wish. Then using a pen, you will draw parts that catch your attention. Of course, that the composition is very complex. There are many things going on in each part of the triptych. So the idea is for you to select pieces here and there and create your own composition while keeping the same logic of the triptych. So for example, in this first part, I have Adam and Eve. And then on these two pages, I have the middle part of the triptych. And then in this part is Hell. So as you can see, I selected some parts of the compositions. They are not exactly in the same place, but the idea is there. And then after drawing with pen, you can paint with watercolors as I did. Just a light wash, not much details, just to give it a bit of color. But of course, you can get into details while you're painting and while you're drawing. The idea is for it to take around three hours to complete. And now let's have a look at some parts of the process of creating my own construction sketchbook inspired by the Garden of Earthly Delights. And the class has come to an end. I hope that you had enjoyed it. If so, click the button below. If you made your own construction sketchbook with these drawings, let me know. Tag me on Instagram because I would love to see your work. And of course, if you want to keep watching more content like this, consider subscribing to the channel so you don't miss anything. Thank you so much for watching and see you in the next video.