Sensible and delirious readings of <i>The Garden of Earthly Delights</i> by Hieronymus Bosch

Abstract

The complexity of the evaluation of The Garden of Earthly Delights is approached in this article from two fundamental lines of study. The first outlines different interpretations and deals with understanding why there exist antagonistic versions of the overall concept of the triptych. It also considers some partial aspects that have been the object of multiple conjectures. The desire to examine the general logic of the work as a whole, in order to arrive at a convincing reading, guides the second line of research. The underlying story of the Prado’s Garden... allows me to discern the implicit presence of the Fall of the Evil Angels and the Betrayal of Judas, and to define the extent of elements extracted from the Divine Comedy and the ancient world based on a reconsideration of the Man-Tree. On the other hand, it beckons me to delve into the discourse created around the figures of an Eve and Adam capable of imagining anew the lost Paradise and of rethinking the doubt that led to the Fall and opened the gates of Hell. For this, it is necessary to consider some determining elements that permit a better appreciation of the speculative intelligence of Bosch and his fertile hermetism. The painter, innate and trained, has a great capacity to reason with images based on multiple antecedents, which always betray and abandon to some extent, not merely to be unfaithful or, even less so, to behave like a heretic. It is invigorating to attempt once again this approach, that rests on the shoulders of many and that has furnished interesting readings, be they all-encompassing, partial, innovative, accumulative, or antithetical.