Week 12: Rashi: The Garden of Earthly Delights

When first viewing the Garden of Earthly Delights it is a lot to take in. The mind does not know where to focus because there is just too much going on. When the eye finally settles down it finds its self on the left side of the triptych. The left panel has the least going on, in the foreground is Adam and Eve with God and in the background is just landscape along with some animals. The colors are very vibrant, the artist uses a good combination of opposite colors from the color wheel. Against the bright green/yellow grass he places a reddish pink fountain. The repetition of that color is found in God's robe. For me the repetition of that same color pulls the eye along in the triptych to the middle panel where there are way too many things going on in the foreground but in the background the reddish pink color is repeated in four different buildings. Each of the buildings are placed horizontally to the right of the last leading ones eye onto the last panel of the triptych where the color scheme is no where near the last two. It is all dark, more of the use of browns and earthy tones then the vibrant greens. Even among the dark colors one finds that same red color in the center of the panel which brings an eye to a stop because there is no more of that color. In the end that same reddish pink color had the eye going in a semi circle starting at God, moving up toward the fountain across the middle panel and lastly ending on the right most panel to stop. I think its interesting how artists place objects with a certain color scheme in certain areas of a painting to keep the viewers eye moving.