Week 13, Nicole Martin, The Garden of Earthly Delights

The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Bosch, serves as a warning to human kind.  The painting is in the form of a triptych, and if read from left to right, it warns humans of their own self-destruction.  The panel farthest to the left depicts God introducing Adam and Eve to each other.  The scene in this panel appears to be calm and pleasant, and could be interpreted as being the Garden of Eden.  Life is harmonious as the interactions between all of God's creations remains in order.  The serenity of the first panel disappears completely from the middle panel.  Humans have given into the deadly sins of lust and gluttony.  Indulgence is present not only in the over sized fruits that are being devoured, but also in the promiscuous acts that humans have begun to partake  in.  Life seems to have become completely unbalanced, as represented through the bizarre proportions of the birds of the middle-left side of the panel.  The consequences of such frivolity are shown in the panel on the right.  This panel could be interpreted as Bosch's portrayal of hell.  The dark sky, black water, and the sharp knives scattered around the panel make this scene look ominous.  Strange and imaginary creatures, such as the one sitting on the gold chair in the foreground of the painting, seem to be ruling Hell and are punishing the humans for the sins they committed on Earth.