Then I found the small but rather brilliant Carnival Museum. I saw pottery and tools from the time of Bosch (as depicted in his works), the massive cathedral that many of his works once occupied, underground canals, elaborate murals, sculptures of his creations, and frog ornaments. Bosch 500 was a truly immersive experience which saw the whole city celebrate its famous son. I could not wait to visit! All the Bosch at once!!!īut it was much more than that. This was the culmination of a massive research and conservation project, inspired by exceptional vision from a town that didn’t even have a Bosch to call its own. The Nordbrabants Museum exhibited Hieronymous Bosch Visions of Genius, bringing together Bosch paintings and drawings from across the world.
The town of his birth, the town he was named for, ‘s-Hertogenbosch or Den Bosch, held Bosch 500. I managed to see a few as I got older and travelled to the Netherlands, Belgium, Vienna, because I lucked out on a courier trip, Kansas City.Īnyway. I liked his paintings because they were fantastical and weird. Mostly scattered across museums in Europe and the US. I was gutted to discover there was only one in the UK, and only a few in the world. I have loved the works of Bosch ever since I saw one in an art history book when I was a teenager. Seeing the works of 15th century artist Hieronymous Bosch in the town he was born and worked in changed how I understood his paintings. (Whether anything has a singular cultural context is another discussion.)įor me. One discussion has centred on the benefits of seeing an object in its original cultural context. Such as Moai are family and return looted art to Africa. There has been an increase in stories in the press about the return of cultural objects to their place of origin.