SELF-ABSORPTION WHEN IN THE PRESENCE OF A GENIUS

Hieronymus Bosch was born, worked and died in ’s-Hertogenbosch in Brabant, the Netherlands. In 2016 from February to May, an exhibition, Hieronymus Bosch: Visions of Genius, was held at the Noordbrabants Museum to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Bosch’s death; it was so popular that tickets sold out in the first month, and visiting hours were eventually extended to 1am in the final weeks. It was a remarkable coup for the city, as it no longer holds any of Bosch’s works. “His work is notoriously complex, challenging and contradictory, his paintings at once unconventional and rooted in tradition.… His surreal imagery is based on the acute observation of nature… and his works invoke sophisticated visual riddles and witty puns that belie their naif style.”* Bosch is seen as a hugely individualistic painter with deep insight into humanity’s desires and deepest fears. * boschproject.org Many murals advertising the exhibition were still extant throughout the town when I visited in 2017. It was market day and this mural in a narrow alley was passed by people seemingly indifferent to the work. Their self-absorption interested me in such a setting. The photos were taken spontaneously and swiftly of people in motion, and include odd bits and pieces of others about to enter or leave the frame.