Hieronymous Bosch (c. 1450-1516)

Last Judgment (triptych)

Left wing, "Paradise" | Central panel, "Last Judgment' | Right wing, "Hell

The end of time is a double realization: the actual material universe will end, or our existence in it. But also our material vision will sooner or later end and turn into the vision of God or the Absolute of the natural order. Especially the latter end of time, material time, is feared because then one will have to face the final selfconfrontation with the judgment of one's own natural authority to which one can no longer maintain lies. Time is the Creator, the Maintainer and the Destroyer and all we really can do is respect it as the nature of God. What happens if we do not do so from the beginning but against the virtues postpone our respect till the end of time is shown in this triptych. From the fall from paradise left through the separating of the spirits to the hell thereafter if we miss the point of God's order and rule of Time. These are the classical warnings of religion. To rational mankind though this is either completely strange. Didn't all modern warfare of the latest centuries coincide with manipulations of time? And would that look more happy than what we see here?

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© Time Art Gallery/hall 6