Around 1480 -1516 · Devotion, symbols and visions of salvation

Bosch places Christ at the center of an unstable world, populated by signs, crowds and visions where salvation constantly faces illusion.

Hieronymus Bosch approaches the life of Christ with the symbolic imagination that distinguishes all his work. In the scenes of Childhood, the Adoration of the Magi celebrates the universality of Redemption, but the dilapidated architecture and ambiguous figures already announce the fragility of the world. On the contrary, the episodes of the Passion tighten the space around the face of Christ: executioners, spectators and grotesque characters form a moral as well as a physical pressure. On the contrary, the episodes of the Passion tighten the space around the face of Christ: executioners, spectators and grotesque characters form a moral as well as a physical pressure. Bosch works on a panel with a surprisingly free touch, sometimes letting clear preparation vibrate under thin layers. The details are never simple curiosities. Animals, objects, ruins and gestures secondary ones extend the spiritual meaning of the scene and invite a slow observation, close to the devotio moderna practiced in the Burgundian Netherlands. The selection "Jesus Christ by Hieronymus Bosch" notably compares The Adoration of the Magi and Christ and the Adulterous Woman. Its reading favors light.

In Bosch, Christ remains the fixed point of a universe where every detail can reveal a fault, a temptation or a promise of salvation.