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The Ship of Fools by Hieronymus Bosch is an interesting, intellectually stimulating painting. It's sober colours set the atmosphere nicely for the fools, who are drifting off to some place unknown, perhaps, even to them. Bosch does a good job of filling the boat with crowded chaos until it looks like it may topple over with the sheer absurdity of its load.
The best word to describe this painting is "foolish", and for the first time I mean this as a compliment. Bosch was a master of the bizarre – his paintings The Temptation of St. Anthony and The Garden of Earthly Delights are proof of that. His works, however, are more than just bizarre. They have a purpose. Bosch's purpose in The Ship of Fools was to point out the foolishness of the church (this is why he portrayed the nun and friar front and centre, while the professions of the others are not evident). Foolishness he achieved.
Bosch tells a story with this painting – a story of the foolish and frivolous. He depicts this story very effectively. Everything in the painting revolves around the trivial – food, drink, and making merry. No attention is paid to the direction of the boat nor to the poor souls in the water below. In fact, none of the empty-headed nit-wits in the boat are paying attention to anything that isn't edible, intoxicating, or silly and fun, except perhaps for the person in the back who is vomiting. But we know that he will probably soon join the others in their folly.
The best word to describe this painting is "foolish", and for the first time I mean this as a compliment. Bosch was a master of the bizarre – his paintings The Temptation of St. Anthony and The Garden of Earthly Delights are proof of that. His works, however, are more than just bizarre. They have a purpose. Bosch's purpose in The Ship of Fools was to point out the foolishness of the church (this is why he portrayed the nun and friar front and centre, while the professions of the others are not evident). Foolishness he achieved.
Bosch tells a story with this painting – a story of the foolish and frivolous. He depicts this story very effectively. Everything in the painting revolves around the trivial – food, drink, and making merry. No attention is paid to the direction of the boat nor to the poor souls in the water below. In fact, none of the empty-headed nit-wits in the boat are paying attention to anything that isn't edible, intoxicating, or silly and fun, except perhaps for the person in the back who is vomiting. But we know that he will probably soon join the others in their folly.
The story of the person climbing the mast is clear – he wants the roasted goose! However, why a roast is up the mast in the first place is not clear. According to What Great Paintings Say, Volume 2 by Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen, the roast has a purpose, as does the ridiculous tree also tied on to the mast. The book says that the tree is a parody of the Tree of Knowledge in the Bible, and that instead of life-changing fruit there is a fattening roast. For the average viewer, this meaning is too thickly disguised to be guessed at. I, for one, could never have penetrated this symbolism.
However, I think that Bosch found a new use for symbolism. He used it as a way to enhance the bizarreness of his paintings. This keeps the viewer’s attention and piques his or her curiosity, making the paintings more intellectually engaging. So though many of Bosch’s symbols may be too complicated to the average viewer, they do serve a purpose and add a different dimension to his work.
In this painting Bosch does a very good job conveying his theme and his purpose. He does this through evident symbolism and an atmosphere of disorder. His less straightforward symbolism also adds to the atmosphere of disorder and foolishness and makes the viewer think.
