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Directed by José Luis López Linares, awarded with three Goya awards and nominated for the Emmy, this 90-minute documentary film was released to coinside with the opening by the Prado Museum of “El Bosco. The Centennial Exhibition ”, the most important exhibition ever organized around the artist with whom the Prado will commemorate the fifth centenary of his death.
Synopsis of the director: José Luis López Linares.
In 2016, 500 years had passed since the death of El Bosco. It is almost the only event relating to the author of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” to which we can set a precise date. “El Bosco, the garden of dreams” is a film about his most important painting, and one of the most iconic paintings in the world: The Garden of Earthly Delights.
There have been many interpretations of El Bosco’s paintings since its creation. The Bosco has been designated as a member of an esoteric sect, a crypto-Cathar, an alchemist, others see it so cultured that it incorporated complex messages in the form of visual word games based on biblical texts or folklore. These interpretations often only reflect the mindset of the viewer.
It is a painting for everyone because, while it fascinates the eyes of the average viewer, it also contains layers of depth that an informed viewer will recognize as symbols of deeper levels of meaning and inquire into the nature of its mysteries.
We have had a conversation between artists, writers, philosophers, musicians, scientists, about the personal, historical and artistic meanings of the painting, bringing to our days the ‘conversation’ that began 500 years ago at the court of the Dukes of Nassau, in Brussels , when it is believed that the painting was commissioned to El Bosco.
This ‘conversatio’ is conducted by art historian Reinert Falkenburg, who is accompanied, among others, by writers Ohran Pamuk, Cees Nooteboom, Nélida Piñón, Salman Rushdie and Laura Restrepo; the artists Miguel Barceló, Isabel Muñóz and Max; the musicians William Christie, Ludovico Einaudi and Silvia Pérez Cruz; playwright Albert Boadella; the historians John Elliot and Carmen Iglesias; neurosurgeon Sophie Swartz, and of course art historians Pilar Silva (curator of the El Bosco exhibition in El Prado), Alejandro Vergara (El Prado), Elisabeth Taburet-Delahaye (Cluny Museum), Xavier Solomon (Frick Collection) and Philippe from Montebello (Metropolitan Museum)
There are still many mysteries surrounding the triptych, but at the same time there are elements for everyone: bright colors, complex action, comedy, tragedy, mystery, sin, life, death, and perhaps even redemption. The work can be appreciated and is able to catch the viewer without being understood. The film leads us to understand the work.
Trailer for El Bosco – El Jardín de los Sueños
