The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch

Fantasy art from the first surrealist tells the story of heaven and hell

At the time it was painted, circa 1500, this would have been a stunningly original and modern work. This folding triptych is believed to have been commissioned for the altar of a private chapel in one of the grand houses of Brussels, and it is now restored to its ‘original glory’ and displayed in the Prado, Madrid, where I stood before it on a recent visit.

Seen in its gallery room among other late Gothic works, what really strikes the viewer first is the brightness of the colours that leap off the oak panels. The palette appears so modern as does the content: the Surrealists of the twentieth century cited it, along with the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, as being the earliest expression of their ideology.

When closed, the piece presents an image of a crystal sphere, with God at the top looking down upon the earthly realm he has created, represented by a disc at the equator of the sphere. Of course, the ‘flat earth’ theory was no longer convincing and when the panels are opened up, among the many strange and wonderful things revealed is an array of exotic fruits, which had only just been discovered in the New World during the voyages of Columbus.