A selection of almost ninety works – including eleven autograph paintings, representing almost half of the Netherlandish master’s painting oeuvre – will showcase the eternal themes of humanity that Bosch addressed in his art. The exhibition aims to conjure up Bosch’s world and evoke the spiritual/intellectual and visual culture of the late Middle Ages through the presentation of the then prevalent ideas about the human condition, including human life seen as an earthly pilgrimage with its crossroads, sinful mazes and sensuous detours, as well as the spiritual footholds that were available to people at the time.

Besides autograph paintings and drawings, the exhibition will display works that were precursors to Bosch’s oeuvre, along with the most distinctive masterpieces from his workshop and by his followers. The Budapest show will not only be the largest ever presentation of the master’s works and art in Central Europe but also one of the most significant Bosch exhibitions worldwide in the last fifty years.

The exhibition is curated by Bernadett Tóth with associate curators Georgina Csető and Anna Köves, art historians of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. The show is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue in English and Hungarian (separate volumes). Authors of the catalogue are distinguished Bosch scholars and curators of fellow-institutions: Essays: Larry Silver, Eric De Bruyn, Erwin Pokorny and Reindert L. Falkenburg. Catalogue entries: Eric De Bruyn, Nils Büttner, Georgina Csető, Reindert L. Falkenburg, Daan van Heesch, Concha Herrero, Stephan Kemperdick, Henry Luttikhuizen, Erwin Pokorny, Frits Scholten, Larry Silver, Bernadett Tóth and Alexandra Zvereva. The catalogue was edited by Bernadett Tóth and Ágota Varga.