The Garden of Earthly Delights: Interpretation

by Larry Solomon, copyright © 2002

The "Garden of Earthly Delights" is Bosch's most complex painting, one that continues to fascinate and perplex modern critics. Click in any of the "hot rectangles" in the following picture to see the meaning of the images.

The fragile bubble of pleasure Is this a rape? circle of delights Is this a rape? Is this a rape? The pleasure garden Strange scene mermen & mermaid In pursuit of fruit towers of pleasure Griffin devil

Figure 20. This image shows only the central panel.To see the whole triptych (with much less detail) follow this link..