The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch (1490-1510)
This painting by Hieronymus Bosch is a triptych depicting the Garden of Earthly Delights. The left panel shows God creating the world, the middle panel is a fantastical landscape of naked figures engaging in various activities, and the right panel is a hellish scene of punishment
The Garden of Earthly Delights is the modern title given to a five-panel triptych by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. Because of Bosch's religious beliefs, interpretations of the work typically assume it is a warning against the perils of temptation. The outer panels place the work on the Third Day of Creation. The intricacy of its symbolism, particularly that of the central panel, has led to a wide range of scholarly interpretations over the centuries.