Diabolic torture inflicted on the ungodly; unspeakable yearnings straight out of the subconscious — the country now known as Belgium has given the world over five centuries' worth of depictions of the unimaginable.
"Fantastic Art in Belgium" at The Bunkamura Museum of Art places Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) and Pieter Bruegel the Elder(c. 1525-1569) alongside 20th-century Belgian surrealists and more, making up a show of more than 130 paintings and objects.
It opens with "Tondal's Vision," a work that was made around 1490-1500 in Bosch's workshop, possibly by the master himself. Based on a 12th-century text of "infernal literature," a literary genre that includes the later more famous example of Dante's "Inferno," the painting depicts hell as seen in a dream by the knight Tondal and reveals various cruel punishments for sinful behavior — such as a glutton being force-fed an endless supply of drink by a demon.