The Garden of Delights

The second fragrance takes us to “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch, exhibited at the El Prado Museum in Madrid. This triptych is considered a masterpiece of surrealism for its complex symbolism: humanity is depicted, according to medieval Christian doctrine, with all its vices and perversions in a satirical representation of the sins of men.

On the outer panels, visible when the triptych is closed, God appears at the top in the act of creation: the world is depicted as a transparent sphere. When opened, the triptych reveals itself in its magnificent beauty.

The painting that inspires the second fragrance of Paradiso Perduto is the central one, where pleasures and love are depicted: exotic animals representing lust, a multitude of nude figures, some in erotic abandon, others in the form of chrysalises, are fed by birds carrying cherries and strawberries in their beaks, fruits with aphrodisiac properties.

In the third panel, the scene transforms into a demonic concert: musical instruments become means of inflicting suffering and pain.

An olfactory representation of the contrasts present in the triptych.