Vincent van Gogh, a renowned artist, gained fame for his sunflower paintings in 1888 and 1889. He experimented with color and composition, creating still lifes of dead and living sunflowers. Van Gogh painted sunflowers for the first time in 1886 and later re-emerged after settling in Arles, Provence. His two series of sunflower paintings, which he created to impress Gauguin and symbolize gratitude, were admired by Gauguin.
Van Gogh painted twelve canvases of yellow flowers in Paris and Arles, creating a unique and iconic series of sunflowers. The four still lifes of sunflowers that Van Gogh painted in Paris in 1887 were acquired by Paul Gauguin. The story of these iconic sunflower paintings is explored, including their meaning, color experiments, and preservation challenges.
Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings altered many views on color schemes, exaggerated features, and stereotypically beautiful flowers in minimalistic form. He painted seven sunflower pictures in Arles, France, between 1888 and 1889, with four painted in one week of August 1888 and one in September 1889.
Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” paintings are undoubtedly among the most famous sunflower artworks in existence. He began painting sunflowers in 1888 when he lived in a yellow house in Arles. Van Gogh painted four images of sunflowers in a pot, and then three copies that depart in many details from the originals.
Famous still life paintings include Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”, Cézanne’s “Jug, Curtain and Fruit Bowl”, and Braque’s “Violin and Candlestick”.
📹 The Disturbing Paintings of Hieronymus Bosch
There is no other artist quite like Hieronymus Bosch. During the European Renaissance, this Dutch painter was conjuring up …
Which famous Spanish painter made the painting of sunflowers?
The Painter of Sunflowers is a portrait of Vincent van Gogh by Paul Gauguin, created in December 1888 in Arles, France. The painting depicts Van Gogh sitting on an easel, likely painting his “Sunflower” series. This piece is part of Gauguin’s “Arles Period” and is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The portrait was painted during Gauguin’s time living with Van Gogh in Arles, where Van Gogh had requested him to form an art colony called “The Studio of the South”.
Gauguin was financially supported by Van Gogh’s brother, Theo Van Gogh, who paid him a stipend for completing one painting a month. During their time in Arles, the two artists faced regular disagreements due to their differing opinions on artistic expression and freedom of representation.
Which Dutch artist frequently painted Sunflowers?
Vincent van Gogh’s 1888 painting “Sunflowers” is one of five versions on display worldwide. The paintings were created to decorate Van Gogh’s house in Arles for a visit from fellow artist Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh declared that the sunflower was his own, and the life cycle of the sunflower, from young bud to maturity and decay, reflects the vanitas tradition of Dutch seventeenth-century flower paintings.
The sunflowers were also intended to symbolize friendship and the beauty of nature. These sunflower paintings were among the first to showcase Van Gogh’s signature expressive style in Arles, and are among his most iconic and best-loved works.
Who is the female artist of Sunflowers?
Woman with a Sunflower is a painting by Cassatt, part of a 1915 exhibition at the Knoedler Gallery in New York City, organized by Louisine Havemeyer. The exhibition raised funds for the Woman Suffrage Campaign Fund. The painting depicts a mother and a girl looking into a small circular mirror, with the mother’s bright outfit highlighting the child’s nudity and innocence. The mother and child are connected through hand gestures and gazes towards the mirror, highlighting the young girl’s developing feminine identity under the care of her mother.
The sunflower, a symbol of the suffrage movement, is also featured in the painting. Suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony encouraged the use of the sunflower by wearing pins during the 1867 Kansas suffrage campaign. Throughout the 20th century, yellow was used to symbolize the suffrage movement.
Who painted Sunflowers first?
Vincent van Gogh’s sunflower paintings are highly regarded, with twelve of them being his most famous. The most famous are seven he painted in Arles between 1888 and 1889, while the other five were painted in Paris in 1887. The Sunflowers Series, which originated in 1886 when Van Gogh relocated to France with his brother Theo, was a response to his dissatisfaction with life in Paris. He found solace in sunflowers, despite the risk of becoming “wholly numb” if he stayed, and the painting has been the subject of recent environmental protests.
Who is the Dutch artist Sunflower?
In 1889, Vincent van Gogh created a luminous sunflower painting from memory, capturing the shapes, colors, and cheerfulness of the modest flower throughout his ten-year career.
What did Vincent van Gogh say about sunflowers?
In his writings, Van Gogh indicated that his sunflower paintings symbolized gratitude. The utilization of cookies facilitates a user-centric online experience, encompassing both functional and analytical capabilities. Prior to the setting of any cookies related to advertising or other functions, consent is required. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam assumes responsibility for the artwork. The Van Gogh Foundation acknowledges the Van Gogh Museum as the holder of the copyright.
Did Claude Monet paint Sunflowers?
Claude Monet, a 19th-century Impressionist, was a pioneer in the development of expressive art. He chose seven types of flowers for his still life works, including sunflowers, which were among his most popular. Monet’s aim in his paintings was to capture reality and analyze the ever-changing nature of light and color. He recorded his surroundings faithfully, from the grime of a Paris railway station to the incandescent beauty of his later paintings based on the gardens he created at Giverny in north-eastern France.
Monet’s fame and popularity soared in the second half of the 20th century when he became one of the world’s most famous painters and a source of inspiration for burgeoning artists. By translating his unique perception of the natural world directly to the canvas, Monet was instrumental in forging an entirely new direction for the world of art.
Monet’s early efforts pay homage to the Realist school of art, which emerged during his childhood and focused on accuracy in depicting subject matter, often consisting of working-class figures and unembellished, natural scenery. His works, including his series of serene water lilies, are considered a groundbreaking tour de force in the development of expressive art.
Did Van Gogh paint multiple Sunflowers?
Vincent van Gogh, known for his sunflower painting, created multiple versions of the painting, which are now found in museums worldwide. These versions include five from Tokyo to Amsterdam, as well as two private versions and one lost during World War II. The other painting is in private hands. The collection includes two paintings from the Neue Pinakothek in München and the National Gallery in London.
What is one of Claude Monet’s most famous painting?
Impressionism emerged suddenly due to a famous painting by Claude Monet, which was a precursor to the movement. Critics initially mocked the works of these artists, but Monet decided to name the work an impression, as it did not accurately represent the port of Le Havre. Jean Monet, the first child of Claude Monet and Camille, was born in 1867 and appeared in several of Monet’s paintings during their early years in Argenteuil. However, the artist never displayed the work and kept it for himself.
One of Monet’s most famous paintings is a portrait of his first wife, Camille, in an idyllic scene surrounded by lush foliage and flowers. The artwork captures a transitory moment of color and light, showcasing Monet’s affection for her, who died of tuberculosis in 1879. Camille was Monet’s favorite model and a supportive spouse, encouraging his creative endeavors and sharing his love of nature. This Monet artwork honors their connection while also serving as a reminder of their separation.
The painting was created the year Camille’s father died, and a gentleman in dark clothing can be seen leaning over the bench, while another female figure carrying a parasol can be seen standing near a bed of flowers in the background.
What does 7 sunflowers mean?
The sunflower, a symbol of loyalty and adoration, can convey various messages depending on the number or color of sunflowers. For example, one sunflower represents love at first sight, three sunflowers represent confession, and seven sunflowers represent hidden love.
Which famous artist painted Sunflowers?
Vincent van Gogh, known for his unique sunflower paintings, began by drawing a single sunflower in a vegetable garden and later creating a vase full of them in two years. He moved to Paris in 1886, missing the outdoor life he had from home, and underwent rapid artistic development during this time. The sunflowers became world-famous after van Gogh painted them in the Parisian neighborhood of Montmartre, showcasing his artistic growth and unique style.
📹 💫 🔴 INCREDIBLE Painting Technique 💫 Flower Painting #shorts
INCREDIBLE Painting Technique Flower Painting #shorts.
The thing about his paintings is they’re so insanely detailed you can get lost in them–every part of it you look at there’s always more detail in the background, hints of yet more vistas, infinitely receding. They’re the sort you could get sucked into–it feels like there’s an actual world behind the canvas. It actually gave me an idea for a story.
Hieronymus Bosch was super creative, long before his time, and painted differently than his fellow painters. I always loved his work. My brother, who is a professional painter, had a book on the paintings of Bosch and I would sit at night, with a magnifying glass, to study his creatures. The amount of detail but also the number of objects in one painting were mindboggling. I love Bosch. Another painter, who also painted like this, but less intensive was the German painter Albrecht Dürer.
I’ve always wondered why a lot of really old art like this can’t be chalked up to a simple love of horror or science fiction, like today’s society. A lot of the time, disturbing artwork is said to be results of mental illness or religion. Its like we cant expect those historical figures to have an imagination based on nothing like we do now.
A thing you surprisingly didn’t mention is that we know that Hieronymus Bosch experienced a huge city fire in his youth, and all the horrors that brought with it. Almost all of his surrealistic paintings have a big part dedicated to a burning city. I was born in ‘s Hertogenbosch and have been an enthousiast of the bizarre and grotesque since my youth. His paintings have always fascinated me.
I discovered Bosch today from an earlier article that I just so happened upon. It was purely an accident and I have not divulged myself with art in such a long time. It’s been nearly half a lifetime since and by running into his work today is illuminating. It made me realize how much I miss interpreting artwork. Since impressionism was what struck my interest when I was younger (I’m 33 now) I would pick away at every brushstroke as it would, for lack of better words (flood) my mind. I have always loved art all types painting to sculptures basically anything. The world is art all around, I live architecture but it has just been to long where I was taken aback by a painting where I was overwhelmed by that (flooding) feeling! I am truly sorry, I am writing such a lond comment but I am so excited! It’s two in the morning and I don’t want to go to sleep. I guess the art will be there tomorrow, or I guess in this case later today but until then I need to get some sleep and maybe have a lucid dream that I am in a art museum.. who knows its possible. Sorry again I just had to tell somebody about my excitement! Good night world… D.G
Bosch and Francisco Goya have always been my favorite artists. There’s something oddly comforting about seeing the sorts of creatures they painted to me. Better for them to be out in the open and you to come face to face with them then them staying hidden in the hearts of normal looking humans. That’s just my take.
I was lucky to be able to see many of these paintings in person last November in Milan. The exhibition Bosch and Another Renaissance runs through March 12, 2023 at the Palazzo Reale. They gathered works from all over Europe. There are even pictures behind some his triptychs you can walk around and see. Beautiful animated article of his works at the end. Really amazing to see in person these pictures that have captured my imagination since I was a kid. I don’t know if the exhibition is traveling to another country next, but I’d look into it if you are a fan.
As someone who has painted, I have to say that Bosch’s intricately detailed artwork must have taken a good deal of time to complete. The detail is astoundingly minute, with brushstrokes barely visible – if at all – and his palettes must have been meticulously graduated. Whatever his compulsion was, and whatever it was he was trying to convey, he was obviously very driven. You can’t produce something like “The Garden of Earthly Delights” in a couple of days. There is months, if not years, of work in that.
I don’t believe that Bosch was ill or hallucinating from ergotism at all. The art itself suggests he wasn’t. It’s so complex and richly detailed, and as an aspiring painter, I can assure you that painting minute details on large pieces is very involved and time consuming. A person has to be relatively clear-headed and focused to put that amount of work into dozens and dozens of paintings of that quality. People love to speculate about where highly creative artists and musicians get their ideas from, but the thing is, people really don’t want to work very much when they are sick or high as a kite.
I love the fact that hyeronimus was probably the most important precursor to the grotesque genre or eldritch horror genre, and that he inspired years and years of artists creating creatures with their imagination and creativity, while still making them unnamable, which is also the concept behind cosmic horror, it’s something so horrifying you can’t describe it, with no precise shape but very disturbing traits
0:15 Something that many people do not realize is that a six-sided die should always have its opposite sides add up to seven. 5 will be opposite 2, 3 opposite 4, and 1 opposite 6 (unless it is some bootleg die). In this painting, though, the 2 and 5 are both visible. Knowing this, I always look at drawn dice to see if they were drawn accurately. Tattoos are especially interesting, because it is not uncommon for people to have their dice drawn ‘wrong.’ I do not typically point this out to them, however. Anyway, perhaps Mr. Bosch painted the die incorrectly on purpose to add even more madness to the painting.
When I was in 1st grade my class took a field trip to the neighboring big city. We mainly went to the museum, but also went to the public library. While my classmates were looking at Golden Books I happened to wonder over to this section of art books. I opened two that blew my mind. One was full of Bosch’s work and the other was that of Bruegel. I was fascinated. That experience changed my life.
I became a huge fan of Bosch after perusal Metallica’s music article for Until It Sleeps. I became fascinated by the iconology so I decided to look more into his art and ended up falling in love with how intricately detailed and vivid his work was. It was surreal and dark, yet so realistic and unique. I hadn’t seen anything like it before and he quickly became one of my favorite artists. His imagination was endless and he created worlds in which you could get lost in for hours. A truly mind-blowing artist!
I remember seeing a coffee table book with his art in large print when I was really young, and I was so disturbed back then! Thank you for this article… seeing the familiar scenes again took me back to when I first looked at that book. If it weren’t for the vibrant colors, I probably would not have looked at the images long enough to get so disturbed 😅
I have always found Bosch’s paintings fascinating. Thanks for the article. Since we know so little about his life, I am speculating that he may have been influenced by the Bubonic Plague that hit Europe in 1437 and reappeared in successive waves every few generations for centuries. Since Bosch died in 1516 and was probably born around 1450, it is highly likely that he was a witness to its devastation and horror.
Wow, great article! I’ve been to ‘s Hertogenbosch many times (i was even there yesterday) and knew he was a painter, but never realized how interesting his art is! There’s a statue of the pig nun in the city somewhere and i always thought it looked funny, but never knew what it was. Next time i will surely visit the Jeroen Bosch museum when i’m there! Thanks to this article!
I would dismiss the theories that Bosch was either insane, or had hallucinations as a result of ergot poisoning or some other substance. Look at his paintings. They are incredibly well organised and structured.. No insane person could be so ordered, and if you’ve ever had LSD, as I have, you would know that any detailed work such as these paintings would be all but impossible. He was a creative artist, with a vivid imagination!
I instantly loved the absurdity of Bosch ‘s paintings from the first glimpse at his work.. This article traveled me back to Art History Class, 4th semester at uni, and felt weirdly nostalgic with a side of wild fangerling. Love his work, love your work, it is like I’ve just watched the world’s most epic collab. Thank you!
What a coincidence – a few weeks ago, a Korean group named “Red Velvet” actually released a new song with a music article that takes a heavy inspiration from some of his paintings. Their clip is not grotesque in any way, but you can find many similarities in the places and creatures appearing in both places. For anyone that is curious, you should watch “Feel My Rhythm” by Red Velvet!
The original Author and Illustrator of the Manga Berserk utilized a lot of inspiration for his work and even recreated a painting of this dude for a panel for story telling purposes. This man did perfect the art of demonic illustration and it’s nice to know his work was used in the greatest story ever published.
Very interesting. As a child I could not stop looking at hi s paintings. We had books of art at home. The three dimensions and vivid colours. I felt every picture has a story like a fairytale. I did not think gloomy thoughts, more funny thoughts like children do. As a grownup, I see it differently. If he had lived now, I wonder what he would have portrayed through his magnificent art now? He could also have been a children’s book illustrator or animation artist? His coloursare fantastic.and the movement in his, drawings are, captivating. He had a weird sense of humor
Since childhood I have a weird hobby of sketching my dreams (writing notes immediately after waking up) whatever I remember….so this art makes a lot of sense to me.. the Art of putting your memory on a paper requires massive concentration, but when you start drawing outlines it comes back immediately, in the end when you finish it and check the details….it surprise you…and that feeling which makes you surprise yourself is out of this world….
Thank you so much for covering a article about Hieronymus Bosch 💖 He’s one of my absolute favorite medieval artists ever since I discovered the Garden of Earthly Delights! I would honestly LOVE to see more stuff about art history cause there are so many iconic works that are full of misconceptions and mysteries 💖
It feels like I got taught of none of Bosch’s art at school, we learned some, about those of St. Anthony for example, but hey, The Garden of Earthly Delights is like hyperborean of Alexander Uglanov, those structures in the back are just something from vivid dreams, and how endless the view is, and Tondall’s Vision is just pure psychedelic nightmare, and beautiful, frighteningly beautiful. I wish I knew of those paintings earlier, because now they are my new favourite paintings, I guess the right time to get to know them is now, thank you for the article.
Thanks for this! I’ve been fascinated by Bosch since I was a child. In my art classes I always got caught wondering about his paintings instead of the more famous artists, such as Da Vinci and Michelangelo. His work and El Grecco’s had an immense grip on my imagination. He surely is one of the most astounting artists of all times.
His work is brilliant- he didn’t see things. He “saw things”. He “saw” something true to life and described it as best he could. You can tap into the infinite creative realm without hallucinating. We all do it all the time. But I think some of us just have way more capacity for abstraction than others. This guy got it.
The primary hypothesis about the meaning behind Bosch’s work that was offered to us in elementary school was that many of his images might have been a kind of rebus. The idea was that since so many people during Bosch’s time were illiterate, art often needed to take up the slack in educating people when they couldn’t be expected to read the Bible. With that in mind, it was suggested that a number of the images in Bosch’s paintings would have been recognizable to his contemporaries as a kind of visual pun or lesson. That concept was fascinating to me as a kid and clearly I hadn’t forgotten it. These many decades later however I have no idea whether or not that hypothesis has since been academically refuted. I greatly appreciate your articles and thank you for the time and care you put into making them.👍
As a teenage art students we were fascinated by Bosch and the detail of grotesque creatures in his paintings. This was late 1960s. He inspired me to paint hellish scenes at the time and still have an art book with his work. Yes artists draw inspiration from other artists. The detail was amazing.!! Hope he didn’t suffer for his art but it’s still not uncommon for artists to be sensitive to cultural events of the time. Death was something that was part of life and religion was powerful. Thanks for article. I paint moody landscapes now.
Heironymus Bosch is one of my favorite old masters- as a boy, I even painted the last part of the triptych with only the white monstrous figure with tree trunks as it’s feet. Also, I remember when the the triptych was called ( the central one), the “garden of delights.” But that was way back in 1972 nearly half a century ago. Later, I found out that he was a cathar. Coming from the Greek word, ” katharos” meaning, cleansed. Sort of a clandestine order. But at 3:00, the pig dressed as a nun was, in the original text, trying to get the condemned soul of a rich man to sign over his wealth to the catholic church( given the nature of where he already was, signing a pact with the devil would’ve been pointless.) And, Bosch insane? No, I don’t think so. But, great narrative. And an even greater description.
An interesting argument against hallucinations that I heard from an analyses of revalations of John is that it is hard to make something structured when suffering from them. As crazy as Bosh’s paintings are, they are not really madness. So the idea that he just had a love for the absurd makes more sense
Having grown up in a strain of Christianity where there are most certainly still demons around every corner, I don’t think it’s any coincidence that my lifelong fascination with the dark, and macabre (an interest deemed heretical by many in that world) led me to love Bosch. His works look like the work of a surrealist far before that movement would come to be, and portray the sorts of things I grew up terrified of in such a beautiful, weird, and distinct way. I loved his work before I even knew his name because I’d see pieces here and there in books, and on TV as a kid, and I was captivated by them every time.
Dutchman here, the “ch” in “Bosch” is silent so you can just pronounce his last name as “Bos” Also talking about the Dutch painters after his death you showed Jacob van Craesbeeck, but he is actually Belgian (i know Belgium was technically also the Netherlands back then, but i thought i should point out anyway) Good article
This “frightening hallucination hell world” theme always reminds me of the disturbing world of Saya no Uta. Others mentioned Berserk, and therefore Soulsborne series, which make so much sense now when understanding the origins. I’m fond of studying the masters as someone who takes joy in learning art, but I have always been drawn to japanese media and horror as well, and when these words collide is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
While in the pursuit of my Art History degree, I was pleased to study the work of Hieronymus Bosch and one of my other favorites, Pieter Breugel the Elder. I am absolutely fascinated by the minds of these artists. I can only guess at the mental gymnastics they dealt with on a daily basis. If I could go back into the 16th century in a time machine, I would truly love to interview them.
His art validated some of my dreams. I get impressions that I can never put into words. The shapes he’s using however can be just as beautiful if it was interpreted through a healthier spirit. I understand… No really, his drawing may be accurate. But I’ve had similar dreams that were the same color schemes and shapes but rather majestic. Maybe we are supposed to interpret horrors as not horrific? Because through the eyes of great mercy this could be considered “beauty”. Great mercy happens in terrible situations that only exist because of free will. Pain has a limit. We are given what we can handle. I’ve had great pain and it’s all due to being asleep while awake(unable to foresee). But… Art is comforting. For all of us. We ALL experience pain and suffering. And we are closer to god each time…as hot as hot gets, there’s a point where it feels cold. Our nerves and brain are equipped for everything…and fear energy is the bond. If you vanish fear. Nobody can hurt you. Your soul slowly oozes out before you even die. I know I’ve experienced it.(drowning). As well, I’ve have had phantom contractions after giving birth as a form of ptsd because I was AFRAID of going through it again. I realized it isn’t that bad if I’m rolling around crying and whining. It’s like my brain is distracted from the pain with outward expression. But I refused to be tied down like that. So… I’ve had my knees dislocated due to a cement block and table. And it’s just electrical surges. Like literally the nerves.
Fabulous artist. Always liked his stuff. To me he’s like a very early surrealist. Love it that you mentioned that. He may have to some extent been following the Bible or other religious texts for inspiration, But to me his mind is like an early Fantasist, creating entire worlds that don’t exist — But sure look like they do under his brush. As an Iron Maiden fan I see Bosch as a forerunner of the nightmarish horror/ science fiction art of many modern artists Including Derek Riggs and Mark Wilkinson who have done the “Eddie” artwork on all Maiden productions.
I went to a high school called: Jeroen Bosch College (I am from Den Bosch). The school was filled with copies of his paintings. De Tuin der Lusten (The Garden of Earthly Delights) was one of them. We were thaught about some symbolism within his paintings. For example the owl: in his era it was a symbol of evil. If you see someone with a funnel on their head it means stupidity/ignorance.
The first time I had ever seen one of this gentleman’s paintings was in a book my mother owned. I don’t recall what it was named, but it was the one with the bird demon creature and the tree man. I will say that I think it kind of messed me up mentally due to being in my pre-teens/early teens when I first saw it. I kept going back to look at it in strange horror/fascination because I was curious about it. Now that I know that it was not from the 70’s or 80’s, it is less frightening than it originally seemed, but still bafflingly curious to me.
One of my favourite famous artists too. 25 to 30 years back, I remember being told be an art historian & art professor that Heronimous Bosche believed himself to be eterbnally dammed to a real hell of which visiions he created. His artist brothers paintings were nothing like the work of Heronomous. I cant remember if their evidence was impirical or subjective but Algeri Dantè descent into hell in Paradise Lost from his trilogy had laid the cornerstone for “fire & brimstone” preaching i.m.o. Heronimous Bosches paintings remind me of some writings of Dantè’s work
A while back I went on one of those boat tours you can take in the city, you basicaly go through the canals of the city, and during that trip we had some sort of history lesson about Bosch. In the year of 1463 there was this enormous fire in the city, and it was though that Bosch was there to witness it. He would’ve been around 13, give or take a few years, and it is speculated that that fire had something to do with his paintings, seeing as how cities on fire are pretty common in his work.
I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole researchng this piece. One thing I’ve found interesting, is the repeated structure/image of a create consuming another creature (like the giant bird in section 3). The same pose, complete with left-facing profile, is repeated several times. Wonder if it means anything or just convenience. ps – another article claims it was made as a conversation piece for the King’s parlor. I’m imagining royalty gathering around it, a safe place to scoff at the sins of mankind will secretly being intrigued by it.
It’s really cool to see a famous artist from 500 years ago having sketches and using older art to inspire his own paintings. You often get the impression that these great pieces just materialized, and weren’t the product of a man with a vivid imagination, some old illuminated manuscripts, and innumerable sketches, some of which were probably pinned up to reference as he painted the characters into the triptych.
Thanks for this. I just came back from a trip to Hungary and there are two of his paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest. They absolutely were the standouts amongst hundreds of pieces of historic art. I now feel a little more knowledgeable about what I witnessed and was touched by personally. They had the Temptation of St Anthony, and the middle piece from the Garden of Earthly Delights triptych. You can lose yourself in those.
he’s my all time favorite painter.. because paintings of landscapes and customary things, no matter how intricate or gorgeous they can be, they are still so boring to me. Hieronymus Bosch’s work is just captivating, it makes your mind go “wtf am i perusal” and keeps you thinking about it. that’s what art is all about in my opinion.
I always wonder if this type of art was inspired by the artist actually using hallucinogens/psychedelics that would’ve been around at that time or not. These sorts of things definitely look the way hallucinogens feel/what you’d see/think on them. I can’t picture these sorts of things being created in the mind without having experienced hallucinogenics tbh.
I own both ” The Garden of Earthly Delights” and Dali’s “The Temptation of Saint Anthony”. What does that say about me? I like weird art, think Dali was a tortured, brilliant artist (his older brother was the first Salvador Dali, but he died as a child. The Dali whose art I enjoy was given the name of his dead brother). Both artists were creative, unconventional and produced shocking works, which, I feel, were painted for the shock effect they would have upon the culture they lived in. That’s my take on it. Art is art, not a psychological diagnosis.
I hate when people see things like this and say “oh the artist must have been crazy.” This is a result of creativity and a negative sense of life, to some extent. It should also be noted that artists were highly restricted by the church, except for things like depictions of evil. This is why gargoyles were popular, to some extent. The grotesques were the only way an artist could truly be creative.
In 2001, in Rotterdam, I’ve seen a very interesting exposition of some Bosch’s paintings. There wasn’t the garden of delights, which stayed in Madrid, but there were a lot of references to the cultural world of his age, let’s call them semi-folkloristic. Such a pity they didn’t make a catalog, because I’ve seen there a lot of images, the “Grilli”, that he has literally taken from material around, some of that there to be seen, and put directly in his paintings. It was there that I ‘ve understood that his imagination wasn’t endless as I thought before and that he was very aware of The Tardo Gotic Culture in Brabant & Holland, and he had heavily used that kind of icons and tokens. This said about his images, but if I really could understand his Philosophy is thanks a book, one of my most treasured, so treasured that I cannot find it at the moment,. I don’t remember the name of the author, nor the title because I ve read it 15 years ago at least, but she told the reader that Hiero Bosch was a HEretic, KETTER, that this is why he went to Venice, the last place where that kind of currents could still be spoken about (shortly after everything ended in Bosnia due to the Turk invasion) I tell you just 1 think learned in that book: look every painting of Hiero and you will find an Owl, symbol of the devil perusal us, this is why is omnipresent. I swear when I find that book I come back to give you the title because it is a must read!
I blame sleep paralysis for the historical obsession with religion, the certainty Heaven and Hell existed and the frightening imagery people seemed to want to paint or see painted and don’t fund it unfamiliar. During sleep paralysis disturbing hallucinations occur that feel like they are really happening not like a nightmare, including shadow people approaching with ominous intent their glowing eyes fixed on yours,and old hags in black who would approach the defenceless sleeper and sit on their torso, causing actual physical pain when the sleepers body awoke. There are all sorts of hallucinations people have reported that are more consistent with their culture but the shadow people and the hag are consistent ones. The shadow person is an obvious vision for the panicked mind to conjure up in the dark..a long white haired hag sitting on them, not so much. 😨😱 However, forgetting this sinister oversight, the hallucinations experienced in sleep paralysis must of seemed like proof that supernatural entities existed and indeed Hell. This shows why everyone was used to such eerie imagery and why there was such devotion to God and not being sinful. Some sleep paralysis sufferers are lucky in that they see eerie scenes like replicas of their bedroom but without any possessions in their room for example but not the terrifying figures known to other sufferer’s. But no one ever sees positive imagery due to the physiological effects of your brain waking up b4 your body (or is it the other way around!
I truly delight (no garden) in Horchelaga’s articles. But with this painting, sadly, he is parroting the plainly wrong, ridiculous view of the painting – simply because he has not actually spent time with the painting and relied on the Disneyfied reading. Even the great Prado museum where it is available for a closer look veers to the conventional view (nothing like a radically unconventional look/painting judged by the conventional) Just look at it: Paradise isn’t the usual biblical Eden if you skip the Fall of Man and Jesus is there bringing the couple romantically together – and it certainly is not a warning of anything, unless you consider the sexy frolicking and fun of the middle panel worth a warning. This is a work of satire and dark human comedy, not a religious pamphlet. It is designed as an alterpiece work for a church that was never intended to be displayed at a church (and wasn’t) like Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles was designed as a western. I could go on, but thankfully there is a wonderful book to read on the painting (out of dozens of mediocre, silly ones): “Hieronymus Bosch: Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hans Belting. Get it cheap from an Indie bookshop online.
It is interesting to see how much time and effort went into all those tiny details hundreds of years ago. Nowadays, we have all this technology, yet, artists would never devote so much time to creating just a single piece of art. It makes you wonder how much we could do with our time without cell phones, movies etc.
I was introduced to Bosch when I was about 8 or 9 years old, a teenager I was “friends” with, sold spider plants very cheap (probably to buy weed) had a poster of Elton John’s Captain Fantastic album cover of a Bosch painting, Garden of Earthly Delights I believe, and I would go there just as much to spend up to half an hour staring at the poster as to buy replacement spider plants I kept killing. Impressed on Bosch’s strangeness very early on.
I love perusal these articles of famous artist and their art. So fascinating. I’m an artist that paints saints for the past 20 some years, and started the use 23k gold leaf this past year. I’m very interested in illuminating manuscript art. My interest in art came at a young age. I colored and drew-on brown paper bags at my grandmother house. I came across an old photo of myself sitting with my father and my late younger brother and I’m holding pencils and a tablets of paper. My religious art inspired by my grand mother’s faith, very devout sitting in her rocking chair with a rosary in her hand till she passed at 92. But recently had my DNA results linked my maternal ancestry to Saint Luke the Evangelist. My late grandmother and mother would have been astonished to know this. After a illuminated incident early in my religious art journey, I woke up in the night, I stood up starting walking and aglow appeared to be behind me as I was walking I saw glowing foot prints that were mine fading with each step I called out to my husband. But it was gone. It has really come full circle for my interest in what I create. I feel very blessed🤍🕊️🕊️🕊️
My uncle gave me a copy of the 3 panel Garden of Earthly Delights. I saw copies of many of his paintings while I was in Amsterdam. I wanted to give my son Jordan the middle name of Hieronymus but my wife would not allow it. I also like Dali and visited his museum and home in Spain. I guess I like weird.😅
Reminds me of the children’s book Where The Wild Things Are crossed with Salvador Dali ( sorry for the spelling..lm dyslexic ) … it’s absolutely mind boggling how much thought to the detail and narrative has gone into this macabre masterpiece. It would be fascinating to go back in time to find out how this master came up with such imaginative ideas 💡 ♥️💯
Call me naive, but I never heard of this artist until recently, when I came across a article (or two) with the “butt song” painting and how it sounded when it was played. After perusal this article, I now understand. So happy I found this informative article! Also, I thought the paintings, although a little morbid, were beautiful. Such detail!
I also like how hierarchical structures of power, both of the touchable as the spiritual, and levels of corruption are depicted in some of his work, and how he knew how to draw a normal gaze a lot of characters show stares with an intense animalistic vibe to them, completely out of their mind it seems. I’m not sure if it’s factual but I heard he was actually hired by the church to produce work to visualize sin and hell for people to see. It’s interesting since his work doesn’t let anybody off the hook, all is entangled including himself. The city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch regularly pays homage to the artist and has statues based on his work throughout the city in mostly random places. It’s a very old city with a lot of history and has parts of its city walls still in tact. It’s a shame the st Johns Cathedral’s tower got bombed in WW2 so the tower is not original, the rest has been well maintained nonetheless.
In addition to what Scipio Africanus pointed out, Bosch also lived at the time when the Netherlands were still ruled by Spain and was going through a sort of war of independence. The hellscapes he painted in many wars could easily have been based on the horrors of that war that he probably saw personally.
I love this abstract painting, the colours, and presence of it against the wall. But… my house is full of originals already. So I always peep at this painting! Nearly everyday as if it hangs it my house! I am actually a children ‘s book writer who has a pseudonym when I tweet on the cell phone, So I am free. Thank you, love yr paintings
Humanity always questions the outside thinkers. The eccentric ones. The free thinkers who are not rigid, closed down entities. I believe these brilliant thinkers and artists are expressing from their past lives. Where else could these expressions/visions come from? From deep within their souls and it keeps getting passed down from one to another.
While I like what you say this article inspired me to actually read further into his life. Bosch was a famous painter in his time, he was not some unknown person. He worked and a very highly prestigious art brotherhood in his home town and actually most of his paintings were commissions. While it is true Bosch’s style is unique his paintings were not created with absolute passion rather it is suggested that he had a huge workforce of apprentices and helpers to help finish his commons. I believe Bosch was an absolute master of his craft and he knew his source material extremely well. He drew upon common mythological refocus like the book Physclogus to make his pieces. They were not just random creatures each one had a specific biblical reference that Bosch painstakingly worked upon.
Bosch’s portrayal of pigs is possibly a reference to the Antonine Swine which the Hospitaller Order of Antonines, who cared for people suffering from Ergot fungus poisoning (amongst other illnesses), had a right to be presented with, and which could roam freely in the town, being fed by the population until they reached slaughter age, when the Antonines would cull them for their sick. There was an Antonine Hospital in London in the parish of St. Benet Fink (Wiki).