Sunday, December 17, 2017

Hieronymus Bosch (1505 to 15). Garden of Earthly Delights [oil on wood]. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

The trio of scenes take place in an almost cartoonish fantasy-realm. Overall, this work is formally stable, but movement and energy are integrated to the degree called for to tell Bosch’s story and grab the observer’s attention. The multiple stories are presented in an even-paced manner, each minimally interfering with ones adjacent, almost as if boundaries were placed between each scene like a graphic novel. 

Color and shape leap off the canvas. Colors are chromatic. Specific blues, pinks, oranges, greens and ivories generously populate and bind the canvas. In addition, color is a possible source of meaning in this painting. Shapes all relate in size and slight, fanciful formatting and scatter to build a pleasing pattern that organizes the subject matter. Value creates a beautiful, soft-edged interlocking pattern across the left and center scenes. This is broken in the right scene, where edges harden and the combination of mid and dense tones dominate. 


Subject modelling is abbreviated for the time period. Bosch relies on
diminution and gestalt to create his reasonable spatial order. His use of colors, purity and overall development of details tend to compress these works, though his use of color temperature and value do well to create a substantial ground for the slighter figures to rest on. 


All forms, figurative, architectural and natural, have a playful, organic tone to them and further relate in diminutive size. When the definitions of edges and shapes are compared to the sky and atmospherically-diluted mountains in the far background, relative sharpness is discovered. Bosch’s use of value is particularly strong. It is more effective than color at generating interest and harmonizing the canvas because it does not draw as much attention to itself. The global color and placement of spherical shapes across all canvases both binds and generates movement. 

At first glance, attention is confused. The middle and right scene are each cluttered and contain a complicated network of directional forces and patterning. The calmness and relative spaciousness of the garden scene will attract attention because of the peace it offers, which leads the eye to the three figures representing the most repeated story in history. Beyond that, endlessly complicated formal choices might edge residual energy to the spherical buildings and shapes spaced throughout, and the individual interactions and stories told nearby. 

The observer is unconnected to the activities, floating high above and, due to the almost alien formatting of subjects, unable to interact with them. The frames seem to be filters, all directed at the same expanse of space, showing what they are individually formatted to reveal: Paradise, Earth and Hell. 


My apologies, but content was not reasonably explored because it would take a small novel to do so. I believe the primary strength of this triptych is it’s simultaneous and organic presentation of chaos and order. Subject size is relatively consistent but this does more to generate tension than calm. Additional sources of chaos are color strategy, the content of the Hell scene and the directional forces of both the Earthly and underworld scenes. Sources of order are consistent color, constricted values, scale and pictorial depth. This triptych is still a relevant piece, inspiring self-reflection of each observer and even controversy. 


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