Reveling in The Garden of Earthly Delights
I had recently seen Martha Clarke’s Garden of Earthly Delights – where the visionary director brings Hieronymus Bosch’s provocative painting to life by exploring heaven, hell, and everything in between. The painting is so dense with symbols and icons that I wanted to go back and revisit the triptych to get a better understanding of the theatrical interpretation.
I started googling the painting. I began at its home, Museo Nacional del Prado and continued from there and then found a few more research sites. I noticed all sorts of merchandise associated with the painting. Keychains, Tshirts, puzzles. Next I found iPods, iPhone and laptop skins. There was more. I started to feel like a runaway train, trying to stop going forward but unable to. Finally, I found the pièce de résistance: sculpted miniatures of the figures in the painting. It was a Bosch orgy.
In college, when I was writing a paper on The Garden of Earthly Delights, my professor mentioned that “it’s possible to love that painting too much.” Ya think?
Images: © gelaskins.com and © 3d-mouseion.com. The painting is in public domain.
