Ocean of Earthly Delights
We have chosen to remake the piece Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. This work is an oil on panel triptych displayed in the palace of the counts of Nassau in Brussels (considered commissioned because of location even though it was not). The piece viewers for its absurdity and vulgar depictions of humans. It depicts 4 scenes. The scene when the triptych is closed is God looking down on his creation, Earth. When opened, the left side panel depicts Adam, Eve, and God in the Garden of Eden. This shows the tranquil and perfected Earth, even if it is an imagined scene with fictitious animals. The middle panel depicts Earth with many humans engaging in almost sinful acts. No one has yet sinned but the intent is implied with the devious nature of humans clearly displayed by the artist. The final panel in the series (right) depicts Hell with a mutant bird satan eating humans and all the humans being punished according to their implied sin. This panel is meant to be a warning reminder to the worshipers in the palace of what happens in Hell after sinning.
The piece was remade twice shortly after the artists death, once as a painting and once as a tapestry, and then many other times since then. Signe has been fascinated with this painting since first seeing it, thinking it was beautifully whimsical and terrifying. Appealing to my prevalent whimsical side, she loved it and the dark warning message the artist communicates.
We decided to take this warning message and turn it into something relevant to today’s society. We believe that the idea of preservation of our oceans is a very pressing issue and we want to address it in our remake of this work. The medium of our work is going to be only non-toxic biodegradable materials like paper and wood, or we will compile found trash. Our current idea is to use photoshop to recreate the landscape, figures, and thematic elements to focus on ocean pollution specifically plastic pollution. The left panel would be a perfectly clear ocean, beach and garden. The middle will be a beach party, inspired by spring break and senior beach weeks, where many youths party at the beach drinking out of solo cups and littering on the beach. The right panel will be the aftermath of this liter, killing the fish and animals in the ocean. This piece will be attached to the wall and the three sheets of paper are going to be positioned one next to the other.
Development sketches
Draft of the first idea
At first, one of our ideas was to contextualize the concept of the ocean more than a garden, in order to create a remake without appropriating the whole idea. One of the other ideas was to create a mask out of papier maché in order to symbolize the good and the evil of the men from outside to inside. We have now developed a new idea which relates more to current worldly issues. Which is the following:
First (left) : Idyllic picture, nature flourishing, beach perfectly kept, no sign of pollution. Garden of Eden
Second (middle): Party, loads of people, careless and polluting, picture representing today’s society, people not caring. Sinning
Third: Much darker colors, animals trapped and killed. Dead nature. Consequence of middle. Hell
