I see two main ways to understand The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. One way to understand it is that it represents the journey of humanity from the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, to humanity’s current state, or a prediction for humanity’s future state. Another possibility is that “Bosch painted three scenes that share the single common denominator of the concept of sin, which starts in Paradise or Eden on the left panel, with Adam and Eve, and is punished in Hell in the right panel. The centre panel depicts a Paradise that deceives the senses, a false Paradise given over to the sin of lust.” (source) These two understandings are not mutually exclusive. Still, in both scenarios, people in the first panel would have a desire to transition to the second. Either humanity is trying to progress itself, as it always does. Or, humanity is overcome by the material temptations of sin and wants to indulge itself. In my piece, there is a stick figure ripping through the border between the left and middle panels, either overcome by the temptations of sin, or attempting to progress humanity. In the prologue of The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt, Arendt speaks of humanity’s wish “to escape the human condition.” The person in my piece is at the beginning of human civilization, or the Garden of Eden, which is the origin of the human condition. And in my piece, the person is literally trying to escape this place, by ripping through the wall. 

 

The yellow stick figure, seen opening up the border between the left and middle panels, was taken from Keith Haring’s Untitled (Earth Day). In the original painting, the figure is dancing in celebration of Earth. The figure’s context in my work is very different, but still, there is reason for the figure to be celebrating. The figure, at least from its perspective, is progressing humanity towards a more opulent state of being. In addition, stick figures represent humans in a simple, vague, and non-conforming form, which fits with my art, as the stick figure is representing all of humanity. “Haring’s fundamental message was one of devout humanism and love.” (source) In my piece, it is humanism that matters more. Haring’s original painting only included the stick figure up until just below the waist, so I used generative AI to create the rest of the legs.

 

In my piece, when the border between the two panels opens up, it reveals part of John Martin’s The End of the World. This serves as a warning to the stick figure, who by opening the border, is progressing humanity towards an era of sin.

Finally, to open up the border, the figure is utilizing a string that is attached to a sea creature at one end. This string and sea creature is taken from Joseph Cornell’s Untitled (Celestial Fantasy with Tamara Toumanova). I used it in part because its shape is convenient for my piece, and it makes sense for the sea creature to be in the water on the right side of the border. But I also saw a parallel between my intentions and Cornell’s piece. In Cornell’s piece, the water includes many white particles, except for the water within the area confined by the string. So if the string has the power to keep out these white particles, I thought it might also have the power to open the border in The Garden of Earthly Delights.