BETÜL AÇIKSÖZ – 21944124

If it is necessary to evaluate Hieronymus Bosch's paintings and his view of art, it

would not be wrong to say that he was a very different and unique artist. Looking at the styles
of other painters of his time, one of the most famous is Jan van Eyck, it is understandable how
rare and extraordinary was the transfer of Bosch's imagination to his paintings at that time. In
all of his works, Bosch recreates the concept of beauty in his own way and completely
reverses the objective beauty phenomenon. His paintings are not filled with angelic and
celestial figures that fit the familiar and customary perception of beauty, on the contrary, they
are filled with demonic creatures, half animal half human freaks, buffoons and witches. Even
in the very famous painting The Garden of Earthly Delights, although it actually depicts
heaven, there are very frightening and really disturbing figures in the painting. As I see it,
Hieronymus Bosch is an artist who admires ugliness. When his works are examined, it is
obvious that he is trying to create an "ugly" aesthetic, and this ugliness makes the painting
incredibly aesthetic with its harmony within itself. For example, when we look at Bosch's The
Harrowing of Hell, we see a terrifying and gruesome painting, drenched in demonic details,
but this painting is so masterfully made that the ugliness of the painting seems tremendously
beautiful to us. While imitation is high-level in his works, the fact that his imagination, which
is the source of his incredible depictions, is unlimited, frankly, makes it very difficult to place
Bosch in the context of the concept of imitation. While he imitates the vast nature, hectic
people, burning villages and running animals, he also pours his mind full of imaginary
psychoanalysis into his paintings, which is too surreal to be able to imitate. I think his
ingenious combination of imitation and imagination makes Bosch a master in itself. To be
honest, in this part, I cannot explain Bosch and his works in terms of similarity, as I do not
fully understand what the concept of " resemblance" means. Pleasure in Bosch's works is the
opposite of many customary pleasure habits. In order to reach pleasure in his works, the
aesthetic perception of the followers must be depressing, oppressive and pessimistic. While
this perverse perception of pleasure makes his works very interesting, in my opinion, this
gives the artist a more elite and homogeneous audience. Anyway, the feelings that
Hieronymus Bosch will create in followers who grew up in different geographies or different
cultures due to his sharp and unique way of expressing himself are similar. This means that
the artist's work is often universal, as the creepiness of his paintings will be perceived in much
the same way by anyone and anywhere in the world. In addition to this, As an individual
living in the 21st century and far from the culture of the environment where Bosch's paintings
were made, I can hear the pessimism of the artist's self-expression and the cries of his
brushstrokes when looking at his work.