Aiming for Paradise

The Garden of Earthly Delights (circa 1490-1510), oil on oak panels

This year marked the 500th death anniversary of the master painter Hieronymus Bosch, who created macabre yet fascinating works, such as The Garden of Earthly Delights. Bosch is not an easy artist to decipher; is The Garden of Earthly Delights, a triptych housed at the Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid) about punishment in Hell or a prologue to Paradise?

Earlier this year, in commemoration of this 16th century artist, the Het Noordbrabants Museum, in Den Bosch - the little Dutch town where Bosch was born as Jheronimus van Aken - presented an exhibition of his works sourced from prominent museums the world over. Titled Jheronimus Bosch - Visions of genius, the exhibition, which included The Garden of Earthly Delights, The Haywain Tirptych and The Last Judgement, saw the rare confluence of the artist's oeuvre for one time only in the city where they were created.

Hieronymus Bosch

For those of us, who did not manage to book our tickets in time to the Netherlands, the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) will screen a new film on this exhibition. The revolutionary language of the artist comes alive in this 90-minute piece, titled The Curious world of Hieronymus Bosch. "It covers several aspects of Bosch's art that it will surely be of interest to art students. Besides, it is likely that many Indians would not have had access to this artist's work, so this film should bridge that gap," says Deepa Gahlot, head of programming for theatre and films, NCPA.

The film will take audiences through the 20 paintings and 19 drawings that were part of the exhibition, talks with the team, and also a behind-the-scenes look that led to the making of this pertinent show. What will delight viewers is a chance to glimpse vignettes of the town of Den Bosch where the artist once roamed and possibly dreamed up his otherworldly art.