The Haywain Triptych

Bosch's Haywain Triptych (c. 1510) in the Prado is one of his most elaborate moral allegories, depicting humanity's insane scramble for hay — a symbol of worldly vanity and material desire. The left panel shows Eden; the central panel depicts the world as a colossal haystack being fought over by figures from every social class while Christ watches from above and demonic figures direct the proceedings; the right panel shows hell. The allegory, based on the Flemish proverb that the world is a haystack and each person grabs what he can, gives Bosch the opportunity to depict the full social spectrum — emperor and pope, peasant and prostitute — all equally enslaved to the same vanity, their social distinctions meaningless before the common human disorder.

The sprawling composition teems with hundreds of tiny figures engaged in every form of sin and folly, each rendered with Bosch's characteristic precision. The warm golden hay contrasts dramatically with the cool, fiery tones of the Hell panel.