The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch
The Garden of Earthly Delights
Public domain
AKA Where's Waldo? The Medieval Orgy Edition
The Garden of Earthly Delights is a chaotic visual romp showing the dangers of humans hooking up with birds. Or, likely more accurately, the dangers of indulging in the pleasures of the flesh.
The exterior of the triptych (pictured above) is benign enough - a monochrome version of the Earth on Day 3, before God created the plants and animals. Open it up, though, and all hell breaks loose (quite literally) once the planet is populated.
The left panel begins with God introducing Eve to Adam, and Adam blushing a little too knowingly about what's about to go down. From there, it's one flirty look from an owl, and humanity is off to damnation!
Give a Hoot! Don't sell your soul to Satan!
Far from being the wise Tootsie Pop loving tricksters, owls were viewed as omens of death and destruction during Bosch's era (possibly because of their gigantic eyes and ability to rotate their heads Exorcist style 180 degrees).
Owls are rife throughout the painting, presaging doom for humanity.
From the owl watching Adam and Eve in the orb-like structure in the center of the Eden panel,
to the owls book-ending the Earthly delights panel in the middle, to the oh so subtle imagery
of a bird-like creature defecating tortured souls in the Hell panel, owls mean trouble!
All of this leads to the timeless question: If being pooped on by a bird is good luck, what does being pooped out by a bird signify?
Almost Paradise?
There are a few interpretations of the triptych, but the most common one is this:
- Adam cavorts lustfully with Eve after being cast from the Garden of Eden.
- Subsequent humans frolic in erotic delight with each other, animals, and various fruits. Given the joyful visages of the revelers, this appears to be paradise, but there are harbingers indicating the evil associated with giving in to temptation.
- The wages of sin is death. But you can spend those wages being seated at a table in a tavern located in the hindquarters of a being that's part man, part tree, and part...eggshell?
Sundown, You Better Take Care
The horizon line across all three panels of the triptych ties the work together. Notice that it's equidistant from the top of each panel, indicating that Paradise and Hell are linked closer than we'd like.
Other clues, like the representations of death and chaos in the Garden of Eden pre-fall, hint that this piece is telling a story, and it's not one with a happy ending.