What do orgies, Dutch paintings, and wolves have to do with freedom? A lot, apparently.

Last year, I traveled to Madrid to visit the Museo del Prado, home to the largest collection of work from my favorite painter, the Dutchman Hieronymus Bosch.

And there in the center of the Prado’s impressive Bosch exhibit sits his most famous work. A masterful blend of the surreal, spiritual, and enigmatic- The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Arranged in three long and imposing wooden panels (known as a triptych), this painting depicts, as the name suggests, the story of a garden of immense pleasure.

The work is invasive, provocative, and unsettling. It simultaneously contains both the relatable and eerie, and you better believe such a combination impacts the viewer. 

Naturally, such a work has warranted much discussion and analysis. But, for me, then and there, I felt the message to be as clear as day…

You can have too much of a good thing.

The left panel shows God creating Eve and presenting her to Adam. It’s the initiation of marriage and the sexuality that comes with it.

This sets the tone for the painting as we move to the center panel which shows this gift being taken way out of proportion. Here the viewer sees a massive orgy spanning a long and luxurious garden (a “New Eden” if you will). 

Only to then be contrasted with the right panel which, tragically, shows these men and women having to endure the spiritual fallout of their overindulgence.

The painting derives its name from this center panel which, arguably, is the most iconic thing about it. It’s not hard to see why. Dating from the turn of the 15th century, right at the advent of the Renaissance, this work serves as an important precursor to the haunting surrealism of modern artists like Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst.

Bosch’s ability to communicate such a cutting message through the creative and disturbing is unlike anything I’ve seen before or since.

One such disturbing element is his inclusion of animals in the center panel’s orgy.

Standing before the painting, I overheard some elaboration from one of the museum’s tour guides. He explained that what Bosch was portraying here blurred the line between man and animal. 

After all, a major quality that sets humans apart from animals is our ability to deny our base desires for later and greater gratification.

For example, when a ravenous wolf kills a deer, it doesn’t think to eat some meat now and save the rest for later- it’s running off its hunger instinct and all it can think to do is kill, eat, and move on.

Let’s compare this with the other day when I bought some groceries. I got home, didn’t instantly tear into my food, and put most of it away for later. Unlike the wolf, I controlled my hunger to my advantage and, as a result, had more food.

But that distinction doesn’t exist in The Garden of Earthly Delights. Of course, we’d expect the animals to be driven by their lusts but what Bosch shows us is that humans can have the same problem themselves.

We can become slaves to our flesh.

Now sarki (the Greek word translated to “flesh” in the Bible) has a lot of different applications. 

Sometimes it just means a literal human body as in John 1v14. While in Ephesians 5v31 it describes the coming together of a man and woman in marriage. 

Yesterday, we looked at Galatians 5v13 and here Paul uses “flesh” differently. In this context, his description is more in line with what’s on display in Bosch’s masterwork. 

It’s a phenomenon common to all humanity and referred to multiple times throughout Scripture- our corrupted bodily desires.

They sit behind much of the turmoil we face on a spiritual and physical level. And, as Bosch displayed, they might feel good in the moment but, when it’s all said and done, we find ourselves far from better off.

This is what true freedom seeks to expose and conquer. 

After all, if all one’s garden produces are earthly delights they will, inevitably, fade away. What are they left with after that? 

Come back tomorrow and find out.

For now, be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter

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