The Garden of Earthly Delights is an oil painting on wood panels. The creation of the world is shown on the left panel, and then the creation of man. Next follows sin, which results in damnation or going to hell. The left interior panel of Eden shows many different animals living together with humans without interaction. Death is shown by a cat carrying a mouse and a lion eating a deer or antelope. In the center panel, animals and humans begin to exist together and mingle. On the right side, animals torture humans.
When closed, the shutters portrays a picture of the earth as a flat disc in a sphere with the land floating on top of a sea. Although the earth is bright from sunlight slipping through storm clouds, strange things are shown rising from the ground. A small illustration of God the Father appears at the upper left corner.
The Garden of Earthly Delights
The Garden of Earthly Delights, central panel, det...
Inner left panel of the triptych of the Garden of ...At the top of the panels is a quote from Psalm 33:9 of the Bible: "For he spake and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast."
The left most panel features the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge (the one at the middle of the right edge), and God (in the form of Jesus), presenting Eve to Adam. This just shows creation, and represents the beginning which is why it is the first piece that was painted. The center panel shows the decline of kindness from humans and the turning toward sin. It features giant birds, a lot of fruit, and a bunch of people walking around naked in a big green field. Finally, the rightmost panel illustrates Hell. People are treated to several harsh torments including being eaten by a giant bird. The seven deadly sins are featured throughout this panel. The bird sitting...