500 years ago died one of the most enigmatic, brilliant and fascinating figures in the history of art, Jeronimus van Aeken, born in Hertogenbosch (Netherlands), in his life he was known by the nickname Bosch (El Bosco for Spanish ).
Now, the most important museum in Spain, El Prado Museum, offers the largest exhibition of genius on the occasion of the V centenary of his death, an ambitious exhibition curated by Pilar Silva, Head of Department of Spanish Painting (1100-1500) and Flemish Painting, including works from the Albertina Museum and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Museale Polo Veneto Venice, or the Museum of Ancient Art of Lisbon. In total 65 works of art of which 25 have been attributed to Bosch, nine to his workshop, and the others to artists of the time.
Because of the complication of chronological order the life and work of the Dutch artist, the show is divided in 6 thematic sections: Childhood and Public Life of Christ, Saints, from Paradise to Hell, The Garden of Earthly Delights, The world and man: Pecados capital and secular works, and The Passion of the Christ. The sections cover from his first landscapes of his hometown and its beginnings with other Flemish painters of the time, until his influence on the art of the sixteenth century with the epilogue "After Bosch". An opportunity to enjoy exceptional pieces like the 'Triptych of the Temptations of San Antonio', the 'Adoration of the Magi', The Hay Wain and, of course, The Garden of Earthly Delights.
With "Bosch. The exhibition of the V centenary" we enjoy the essential themes that Bosch is in his paintings, mainly religious and allegorical. The latter full of symbolism and tradition of the time, of the virtues and vices of society around him.
The exhibition is also necessary from the perspective of the specialist as it helps to reveal numerous questions about its referrals, especially the analysis of their catalog and chronology work. In addition, the Prado Museum, a pioneer in the technical study painting Bosco, has reanalyzed their works making use of the latest developments. Visitors to the exhibition can see some of the results of this study with infrared reflectography and radiography of The Garden of Earthly Delights, allowing verify the creative process of the work, with the surprising changes that the artist made since he started the underlying drawing until concluded the pictorial surface.
In addition, the great program organized around the exhibition includes a sensory journey through the triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights".
