The Garden of Earthly Delights

Around 1500, Hieronymus Bosch painted a massive triptych that opens like a book. The left panel shows Eden, the center panel a surreal paradise of nude figures frolicking with giant fruits and animals, and the right panel a hellscape lit by burning cities. Nobody has ever fully agreed on what it means.

The triptych was likely made for the Nassau family palace in Brussels. When closed, the outer panels show Earth during creation — a gray, transparent sphere. Open it, and you get the full spectrum from innocence to damnation in three increasingly chaotic scenes.