SMACK

In 2016, Breda-based digital art collective SMACK created a contemporary interpretation of the famous painting the ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ by Hieronymus Bosch. In the following years, SMACK also created new versions of the side panels of this triptych. Curious about how Hieronymus Bosch would interpret their work, they let AI regenerate their work into a panorama in his style.

As with all of Blind Walls Gallery’s artworks, this work was inspired by a local story. With such a large surface (53m by 8m), there needs to be a great story to match the city’s growing attention to its Nassau (a former German royal family of European importance) past. Of all of Breda’s Nassaus, Hendrik III (1483-1538) and his third wife Mencia de Mendoza (1508-1554) were perhaps the most notable. Under the leadership of this power couple, the city welcomed monarchs, artists and scholars from all over Europe. Breda became a vibrant meeting place where innovation and creativity came together, inspired by influential thinkers and doers. The kind of city Breda wants to be nowadays, too.

Photo by Edwin Wiekens

Hendrik III received one of the world’s most famous works of art as a gift from his uncle Engelbrecht II of Nassau: ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’. More than 500 years ago, painter Hieronymus Bosch created this enigmatic work. It’s probably about a ‘make-believe paradise’ in which humanity imagines itself, with no sense of danger and no knowledge of good and evil. In 1568, Alva confiscated the triptych, eventually ending up in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. This is where it can be admired as a highlight of the collection.