The Garden of Earthly Delights was painted in the Netherlands from the years 1409-1515. It is a “triptych” painting with a scene-in-time displayed in each of its three panels.
The first panel depicts the garden of eden from the story of genesis; It is thought that God is displaying Eve to Adam for the first time, just after he created Eve from Adams rib. The scene shows a variety of animals, both mythical or foreign to the Netherands. Adams expression seems satisfied and riddled with male curiosity. Eve seems reluctant and bashful.
The middle panel shows characters in a celebration of Lust and indulgence. The people communicate and engage with each other in an erotic fashion. The utopian ambience is indicative of the care free life, void of sin; The earth which God may have intended if Adam and Eve had avoided temptation. The subjects engorge in over grown fruit larger than themselves, eachother and play innocently with large animals, like a fish out of water and a giant owl.
On the river amongst foolish play, floats a couple in a glass orb. The orb is cracked to a point just before shattering. This could be foreshadowing what is to come and that their mindless passions are transient and will not last forever; The bubble must pop.
This is a direct reference to the fall of man, Eve picking the apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and disobeying God’s wishes. The characters are completely entranced by the fruit and seem to care about little else. The man overcome by lust presents a giant strawberry to the woman while trying to seduce her, the woman is either pregnant or bloated from great amounts of fruit.
The final panel paints a “hell-scape” or “Apocalypse” , the result of the human race giving in to temptation and earthy delights. Lust has its consequences, those being impaled by arrows, tormented by demons. what was once an innocent scene of boastful nudity is now insecure figures hiding their naked bodies.
a giant bird sits on his throne eating people and discarding them in what can only be described as a medieval toilet. where people excrete into a hole of trapped souls.
people retreat inside the tavern that is the carcus of a “tree man”, hiding from the chaos outside and drowning their sorrows in ale.
Giant ears and a knife tower and crush bodies below it, standing with phallic pride as cities and people burn with it.
its interesting to compare this work of 500 years ago to my own painting in that it is a cautionary of pursuing lustrous delights. Here they face the wrath of disobeying god and it has many religious ties. Mine stands alone as Nihilist, far from a religous entity but is cautionary of our own habits destroying ourselves.
yves'blog 