To mark the 500th year since his death, Het Noordbrabants Museum in the Netherlands has been presenting an exhibition, ‘Jheronimus Bosch - Visions of Genius’, from 13th February to 8th May this year. For one time only, the majority of his work was returned to his city, Den Bosch, which is officially known as ’s-Hertogenbosch.
As Hieronymus Bosch is Nathalie's absolute favourite artist, as an Xmas pressie, I arranged for us to go to the exhibition the weekend after Easter. We stayed at the amazing Cuba Casa B&B, which I can't recommend highly enough. The same applies to the delightful city of Den Bosch, which could not have been more welcoming. Everything about the city was delightful, from the food to the people who couldn't be more friendly if they tried, having visited Amsterdam a few times it was a real pleasure to experience another, more normal, side to the Netherlands.
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| The Garden Of Earthly Delights |
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The Trees Have Ears And
The Field Has Eyes |
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| Visions Of The Hereafter |
On the train journey from Schipol Airport to Den Bosch I noticed a fair number of conifers dotted around the flat landscape. Walking around the city and to its outskirts we also came across many fine trees, however there wasn't a Monkey Puzzle tree to be seen. I have to be honest I did start to moan, half seriously, about the Dutch's lack of Monkey Puzzles, especially as there surely is no better tree that captures Jheronimus Bosch' surrealism! So imagine my surprise, delight and shame when on our way back form our evening meal we came across this beautiful specimen in a front garden!
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| My First Non UK Monkey Puzzle Tree In Den Bosch |
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| Monkey Puzzle Tree In Den Bosch |
Having achieved my first non UK Monkey Puzzle tree sighting I couldn't expect our trip could get any better. However, I was soon proved wrong the next day when we sighted Monkey Puzzle tree number 2 'hiding' behind a wall in a park funnily enough called Jeroen Bosch tuin (Jeroen was what Jheronimus' family called him and tuin means park).
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| My Second Non UK Monkey Puzzle Tree In Den Bosch |
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| I Was Clearly Happy To Find Tree 2 Hiding Behind A Wall |
So in the end not only did I get to see the work of one of the greatest painters to have graced the Earth I also managed to record my first 2 non UK Monkey Puzzle trees, all in all a near perfect holiday.
Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 159 Monkey Puzzle Trees Yet To See - 15
