Sarah Webb: The Garden of Earthly Delights

A spectacular and richly detailed triptych, The Garden of Earthly Delights depicts the biblical story of the Earth's creations, and man's eventual damnation.  With the scenes running from left to right, the first panel shows God with Adam and Eve, whom he has just created.  There is a deep sense of peace and serenity amongst the lush green landscape and exotic creatures.  The scene, however, turns chaotic as the viewer's attention moves to the middle panel, characterized by a flurry of ornamental fruits and flowers with a mass of life-sized birds and entwined naked bodies.  This represents man's deviance from God and the turn towards carnal pleasure and sin.  The consequence of this action is revealed on the far right panel, where Bosch portrays human suffering in hell.  The naked figures now look contorted with pain, quite opposite from the fluid, flowing and lively bodies in the previous panel.  This final panel is set against a background of fire and destruction, characterizing hell as a dark place of eternal punishment.