Hieronymus Bosch prints: one painting, dozens of pictures

How Surrealium cut Bosch's triptychs into prints that hang on their own, and six to start with.

Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, open, with paradise, the garden of pleasures and hell side by side; the whole triptych.

Hieronymus Bosch — The Garden of Earthly Delights, c. 1490–1510. Museo del Prado, Madrid. The whole triptych, open.

A Bosch triptych is too full to take in at once. The Garden of Earthly Delights is over two metres tall and almost four wide when open, and every square of it is packed with figures. Surrealium's answer, for years, has been to print it one detail at a time: a single scene, cut so that it reads as a complete picture with room to breathe around its subject. The new close-ups are cut from the museums' own high-resolution photographs using golden-ratio spacing, so the subject fills about six tenths of the frame and the space around it falls in the same proportion. Here are six to start with, from three different paintings.

See every print marked on the whole painting

1. The Owl

A large brown owl perched on a pale figure wrapped in a pink flower bud, its arms outstretched holding red berries, in the green garden of pleasures; detail of Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights.

Hieronymus Bosch — The Owl. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Surrealium print; complete composition.

A new close-up from the Garden's centre panel: a great owl perched on a pale figure wrapped in a pink flower, staring straight out. Cut close around the pair, with room for the owl's gaze.

Small, strong and unexpected: the perfect first Bosch.

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2. God Presents Eve

God presenting Eve to Adam in a green paradise meadow; detail of Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights.

Hieronymus Bosch — God Presents Eve. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Surrealium print; complete composition.

From the left wing: God presents Eve to Adam in a quiet meadow. The calmest scene Bosch ever painted, cut wide so the meadow and its animals frame the three figures.

Gentle and luminous: a Bosch for a bedroom.

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3. Lovers on the Hay

Lovers making music on top of the haystack between a praying angel and a blue demon playing a pipe; detail of Bosch's Haywain Triptych.

Hieronymus Bosch — Lovers on the Hay. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Surrealium print; complete composition.

From The Haywain: lovers making music on top of the hay, between an angel and a demon. A new close-up from the Prado's photograph.

Balanced, musical and romantic, with a sting in the tail.

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4. The Fish Boat

A boat made from a large fish draped in a red cloak crossing the water; detail of Bosch's Temptation of Saint Anthony.

Hieronymus Bosch — The Fish Boat. Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon. Surrealium print; complete composition.

From The Temptation of Saint Anthony in Lisbon: a boat made from a great fish, crossing the water with its strange crew. A new close-up in a wide horizontal frame.

For a long wall above a sofa or a sideboard.

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5. The Prince of Hell

A blue bird-headed creature with a cauldron on its head, seated on a high chair in hell; detail of Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights.

Hieronymus Bosch — The Prince of Hell. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Surrealium print; complete composition.

From the Garden's hell: the bird-headed prince on his high chair. A new close-up that keeps the throne and the pit beneath it whole.

Bosch at his most unforgettable.

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6. The Garden of Earthly Delights: Center Panel

The whole centre panel of Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights with fantastical towers, riders and crowds of figures.

Hieronymus Bosch — The Garden of Earthly Delights: Center Panel. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Surrealium print; complete composition.

And if one detail is not enough, the Garden's whole centre panel, with its towers, riders and bathers, hangs as a single print.

The full garden, for a large wall.

Buy as is

The new close-ups come straight from the museums' own photographs, cut without repainting anything. To see where each detail sits, open Bosch's triptychs, detail by detail, where every print is marked on the whole painting. The full set hangs together as the Surrealium Collection.

Bosch's triptychs, detail by detail · The Surrealium Collection