I bet I could paint that (mmmmph...)!

When I was in Spain a few years ago, I had the good fortune to visit the Museo del Prado in Madrid, the internationally famous art museum.   One of the best things about visiting a museum for the first time is when I encounter works of art that I appreciate, but which I didn't realize I'd be seeing.  :)  I had one of those "woo hoo" type moments when I saw the large and wonderful "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymous Bosch in all its glory. In great error I didn't have my camera at hand when I visited the Prado, but here is the painting courtesy of Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons:  

This triptych was painted around the year 1500.  I would wager that no other painting in the world gets more scrutinized than this one, given the amount of detail and deep symbolism which must be absorbed while standing in front of it.  I wonder who has looked at the right hand panel of this painting and hasn't thought, "Jeepers, is this where I'm going to land one day if I don't straighten myself up"?  Bosch was just a man of course, but it's easy to feel that this painting was divinely inspired by God (or rather is a warning from God).  It must certainly be an image that helps give shape to many a person's impression of hell and life outside of our earthly existence.


Wikipedia notes that the central panel is rather ambiguous, in that we don't know if it's a paradise that might have been, or is it a representation of surrender to temptation?  The original intention of the painting's creation is also not known for certain... It may have been commissioned by a lay patron.  Something tells me that the lay patron got his money's worth.