By Stanislav Arnautov · Berlin
Quick answer
deckarts offers three Hieronymus Bosch triptychs. Each one is three vertical decks forming a single 70 × 85 cm composition. Pick the Garden of Earthly Delights for colour and endless detail, the Haywain for warm gold tones and a story guests can follow, and the Last Judgment if you want the full Paradise–Judgment–Hell sequence on a dark, dramatic wall. Mounting hardware is not included and is sold separately.
Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516) spent his whole life in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the town in the Duchy of Brabant (today the southern Netherlands) whose name he signed as his own. Only around two dozen paintings are generally accepted as his. Several of the most important are triptychs: a central panel with two hinged wings, designed to be closed on ordinary days and opened to reveal the main scene. This format of three panels read from left to right is the reason Bosch translates so naturally to a set of three skateboard decks.
The three Bosch sets at deckarts look very different on a wall, though, and the product names don’t make that obvious. Two of them spread a single central panel across all three decks, while the third reproduces the complete triptych, one panel per deck. This guide walks through each painting: what is actually printed, which details are worth looking for, and what historians say the imagery means. It then covers choosing for a specific room, wall and light, and how to hang the decks as a straight, even set.
The Bosch Line-Up at a Glance
According to the product pages, every set is printed on Grade-A 7-ply Canadian maple (the same wood used for professional skate decks) with a gallery-quality UV print, so no glass is needed. The sets ship from Berlin in protective packaging. Each triptych is three decks mounted side by side and standing vertically, forming one 70 × 85 cm composition. A single deck on its own measures 85 × 20 cm.
| Set | What is printed | Overall tone | Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden of Earthly Delights | The central panel, spread across three decks | Light: pale green, pink, sky blue | Museo del Prado, Madrid |
| Haywain Triptych | The central panel: the hay wagon, the crowd and Christ in the sky | Warm: gold, ochre, soft green | Museo del Prado, Madrid |
| The Last Judgment | All three inner panels, one per deck: Paradise, Judgment, Hell | Dark: green shading into brown, black and fire | Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna |
At the time of writing, each triptych is listed at €310. Check the product page for the current price in your currency.
The Garden of Earthly Delights: The Famous Centre in Daylight
The painting
Bosch painted the triptych on oak panels. It is not dated, but most scholars place it between about 1490 and 1510. It is first recorded in 1517 in the Brussels palace of the Counts of Nassau, and it later entered the collection of Philip II of Spain. Today it hangs in the Prado. The title was not Bosch’s own. It was given much later.
When the wings are closed, they show the world in grey tones (grisaille): a transparent globe on the third day of Creation, with God as a small figure at the top left. Opened, the triptych reads from left to right. The left wing shows Paradise, with God presenting Eve to Adam. The wide central panel is a crowded garden of nude men and women. The right wing is Hell, a burning night landscape where musical instruments become instruments of torture.
What is printed on the decks
The deckarts set reproduces the central panel across all three decks, as the product photos show, and not the Hell wing that many people associate with the painting. It is the lightest and most colourful Bosch in the shop. Pink and blue fantasy towers and fountains stand against a pale sky along the top. Below them, the garden fills every centimetre.
The Garden of Earthly Delights triptych in a real apartment, by day and in evening lamp light (deckarts photos).
Details worth spotting
- The cavalcade. In the middle ground, riders on horses, camels, deer, boars and other animals circle a round pool where a group of women bathe.
- Giant fruit and birds. Oversized strawberries, cherries and blackberries appear everywhere, along with birds far larger than the people feeding from them.
- Glass and shell shelters. Couples sit inside transparent spheres, bubbles and a large mussel shell. The fragile glass is often read as a hint at how brief the pleasure is.
- The background structures. Along the top, strange pink and blue towers rise from a lake. They echo the fountain in the Paradise wing.
What it means
There is still no agreed interpretation. The most common reading is moral. Humanity moves from Paradise, through a garden of sensual pleasure, to punishment in Hell, and the soft fruit and fragile bubbles stand for pleasures that do not last. Other scholars have argued for readings as an image of the world before the Flood, as an idealised vision, or as something more esoteric. None of these is confirmed. That openness is part of the appeal on a wall: it is a painting you keep looking at without ever finishing. For a closer reading of all three panels, see our Garden of Earthly Delights triptych guide.
The Haywain: A Proverb You Can Read From Across the Room
The painting
The Haywain is a late work, dated to around 1515–1516 on the deckarts product page. Bosch painted two versions, and the one reproduced here is in the Prado. Like the Garden, it is a moral triptych that reads from left to right. The left wing tells the story of the Fall in one continuous landscape: the rebel angels falling from heaven, the creation of Eve, the temptation and the expulsion from Paradise. The right wing is Hell, where demons are busy constructing a tower. The central panel links the two.
What is printed on the decks
As with the Garden set, the deckarts Haywain spreads the central panel across three decks. The composition suits the format well. The large golden haystack sits on the middle deck, with Christ in the clouds directly above it and the crowd spilling out to both sides.
Details worth spotting
- The scramble for hay. People from every level of society grab at the wagon with hooks, ladders and bare hands. Some are crushed under its wheels.
- The procession behind. Following the wagon on horseback are figures of worldly power, including a pope and an emperor. The rich and powerful join the chase along with everyone else.
- The top of the haystack. A group of lovers and a musician sit on the hay. An angel kneels beside them looking up to Christ, while a demon plays music on the other side. Nobody on the wagon notices either figure.
- Where the wagon is going. The wagon is pulled by hybrid, demonic creatures heading to the right, towards the Hell wing, which is not part of the deck set.
- The foreground. Along the bottom edge are small scenes of everyday deception and greed, including a quack doctor and members of religious orders busy with the hay.
What it means
The central image illustrates a Flemish saying usually translated as “the world is a haystack, and everyone grabs what he can”. Hay stood for something worthless and short-lived, and the image is often linked to the biblical line “all flesh is grass” (Isaiah 40:6). The message is easy to grasp: in the rush for worthless goods, people ignore Christ above them and fail to see where the wagon is heading. Guests can read this story without any explanation, which makes the Haywain the most conversational of the three.
The Last Judgment: The Complete Triptych, One Panel per Deck
The painting
There are two Last Judgment triptychs associated with Bosch, one in Vienna and one in Bruges. The deckarts set reproduces the Vienna triptych in the Gemäldegalerie of the Akademie der bildenden Künste, the city’s Academy of Fine Arts. It is usually dated around 1500, and dates vary between scholars. Its closed wings show two saints painted in grisaille, St James and St Bavo.
What is printed on the decks
This is the only Bosch set at deckarts that keeps the original triptych structure, with one inner panel per deck.
- Left deck: Paradise. God is enthroned at the top while the rebel angels fall like a swarm of insects. Below, the creation of Eve, the temptation and the expulsion unfold in a green landscape.
- Centre deck: the Judgment. Christ sits as judge in a pale circle of light at the top, surrounded by saints and angels sounding trumpets. Below him the whole earth has become a dark scene of punishment.
- Right deck: Hell. Fires, ruined buildings and hybrid creatures fill the panel, with figures of the damned in every corner.
Details worth spotting
- How few are saved. Compared with earlier Last Judgment paintings, where the saved and the damned are balanced, Bosch gives almost the entire central panel to punishment.
- Sins and their punishments. Many historians read the torments in the centre as punishments matched to the seven deadly sins. Look for small scenes of gluttony, lust and pride acted out in grotesque form.
- The light-to-dark sweep. The colour moves from the fresh green of Paradise to the browns and fire of Hell. From across the room you see a gradient long before you see any figures.
What it means
The subject is traditional Christian doctrine: the end of time, when Christ judges the living and the dead. What sets Bosch apart is the emphasis. The earth itself seems to have become Hell, and the invented creatures carrying out the punishments had no real equivalent in the painting of his time. It is the most dramatic and the darkest of the three sets. It suits people who want a serious old-master statement on the wall. If you want to know more about the painter behind all three works, read our Hieronymus Bosch biography guide.
Choosing by Room, Wall Size and Light
Wall size: work from the real dimensions
A triptych is 70 cm wide and 85 cm tall. That is compact for a three-panel piece, and it changes how you plan the wall:
- Above furniture: a 70 cm set looks balanced over a sideboard, desk, bench or console roughly 100–160 cm wide. Over a long sofa (200 cm or more) it will read as a smaller accent, so keep the wall around it calm rather than adding more pieces beside it.
- On an empty wall: it sits comfortably on a wall section from about 1 m wide, for example between a window and a door or at the end of a hallway.
- Narrow strips: if you only have 30–40 cm of width, a single deck (85 × 20 cm) is the realistic choice. None of the Bosch sets fits there.
Light: bright walls, dark walls and lamps
Tone matters more than fame when you choose between these three. The Garden and Haywain are light and warm, so they show clearly on white, cream or pale grey walls and stay readable in a dim corner. The Last Judgment is mostly dark. On a pale wall it becomes a strong dark block. Against deep green, navy, charcoal or dark wood it looks calmer and more deliberate. In either case, dark pieces need light on them in the evening. A wall light or a lamp nearby makes the details visible after sunset.
The product pages describe the print as UV-resistant, made with pigment inks. They don’t give specific care instructions beyond describing the decks as decorative wall art, so check the product page if you have questions about a particular location.
Room by room
- Dining room: people sit still at a table and have time to look, which is exactly what Bosch’s detail rewards. The Haywain’s warm palette and readable story make it an easy fit.
- Home office or study: the Last Judgment has the weight of a serious museum piece and sits well with bookshelves and dark wood. It also makes a clear, recognisable background on video calls.
- Living room: above a sideboard or small sofa, the Garden adds colour without the heaviness of the darker set.
- Bedroom: the light Garden or the warm Haywain are the gentler options. Many people prefer not to wake up facing Hell.
- Hallway: a triptych at the end of a corridor catches the eye as you walk towards it. The detail rewards the daily walk past.
Viewing distance
Bosch fills every centimetre, so on a 70 × 85 cm set the individual figures are small. These pieces reward viewing from close up to middle distance, somewhere between arm’s length and a few steps back. From the far side of a big room, the Haywain’s golden centre and the Last Judgment’s light-to-dark sweep still hold together as shapes. The Garden reads mainly as colour and pattern from far away.
If you want Bosch’s density with a different subject, Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Tower of Babel triptych is the natural alternative. It is dated 1563, hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and draws on the same Netherlandish tradition of crowded, moralising scenes, but in calmer stone and sky tones. Our Tower of Babel guide covers the painting. For more pieces in the same mood, browse the dark and allegorical collection or every three-panel triptych.
How to Hang Three Decks as a Set
Mounting hardware is not included with any deck, diptych or triptych. It is sold separately. The accessories collection has a deckarts wall mount and a freestanding floor stand. Read each accessory’s page for orientation and fit before ordering. The product pages also note that the decks have pre-drilled holes for wall mounting.
Spacing
Three decks at 20 cm each add up to 60 cm, so the stated 70 cm total leaves roughly 5 cm between neighbouring decks. Whatever gap you choose, keep it identical on both sides. Uneven gaps are the most visible mistake, especially on the Garden and Haywain sets, where one image runs across all three decks and a wrong gap breaks the picture.
Height
- On an open wall: a common gallery rule is to place the centre of the artwork at roughly eye level, around 145–150 cm from the floor. For an 85 cm tall set, that puts the top edge at about 190 cm and the bottom edge at about 105 cm.
- Above furniture: leave roughly 15–25 cm between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the decks, so the set and the furniture read as one group.
Level and alignment: a step-by-step order
- Tape the full 70 × 85 cm outline on the wall with painter’s tape. Step back and check the height and position from where you will usually see it.
- Mark the vertical centre line and hang the middle deck first, checking it with a spirit level.
- Use a spacer (a strip of card or wood cut to your gap width) to position each outer deck at exactly the same distance from the middle one.
- Line up the top edges across all three decks with a level or a long straightedge. Your eye notices a step between tops before anything else.
- Choose wall fixings that suit your wall (plasterboard, brick or concrete). If you are unsure, check with a hardware store.
Our complete mounting guide covers the different mounting methods step by step.
FAQ
Does the Garden of Earthly Delights triptych show the Hell panel?
No. The deckarts triptych spreads the painting’s central panel, the garden itself, across its three decks. The Paradise and Hell wings of the original are not part of this set.
Which Bosch set shows all three panels of the original triptych?
The Last Judgment. Its three decks show Paradise, the Last Judgment and Hell, in the same order as the inner panels of the original in Vienna.
Is the Last Judgment set the Vienna or the Bruges version?
It reproduces the Vienna triptych, which belongs to the Akademie der bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts) in Vienna.
How big is a Bosch skateboard triptych?
Each triptych is three decks that together measure 70 × 85 cm. For comparison, a single deck measures 85 × 20 cm and a two-deck diptych measures 45 × 85 cm.
Is a wall mount included?
No. Mounting hardware is not included with any deck, diptych or triptych. It is sold separately in the accessories collection.
What does the Haywain mean?
It illustrates a Flemish saying usually translated as “the world is a haystack, and everyone grabs what he can”. People of every rank fight over worthless hay while Christ watches from above, and demons pull the wagon towards Hell.
Where are the original Bosch paintings?
The Garden of Earthly Delights and the Haywain are in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The Last Judgment triptych reproduced by deckarts is at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna.
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