Bosch's The Haywain Triptych: Why Everyone Grabs at the Hay
The Haywain is a triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, painted around 1512 to 1515. Its central panel shows a huge cart of hay pulled by demons while people of every rank fight over the hay, a picture of greed and worldly desire. The left wing shows Eden and the fall, the right wing shows hell.
What does The Haywain show?
The central panel is a landscape crowded with small figures. A wagon loaded with a pile of hay rolls from left to right, pulled by strange creatures. Around it, people climb ladders, push, fight and steal. Peasants, monks, nuns and courtiers all have the same aim: to grab a bundle of hay. Some are killed in the struggle and trampled under the wheels.
Above the hay sits a couple, kissing, with a musician playing beside them and a small demon blowing a horn. Higher still, in a cloud, Christ appears with raised hands. He is the only figure in the picture that no one looks at.
What does the hay mean?
Hay stands for worldly goods that do not last. Bosch drew on a Flemish saying that the world is a haystack and everyone takes what they can. The point is that all the grabbing is for something that will dry up and blow away. The crowd is so busy with it that nobody sees the angel praying at the top left, or Christ above.
The panel is not a lecture. It is funny and cruel at once, as Bosch usually is. If you know The Garden of Earthly Delights, you will recognise the same method: a moral idea turned into a crowded dream.
What do the side panels show?
The left wing begins at the beginning: angels fall from heaven, Eve is created, and the first couple is tempted and expelled from Paradise. The right wing shows hell as a burning, collapsing world, with demons torturing the damned and a building on fire. The triptych therefore moves from original sin to its result, with the hay cart travelling between them.
When the wings are closed they show a lone traveller on a road, the Wayfarer, walking away from a village with dogs and thieves behind him. It is a quiet image of a person leaving temptation behind.
Is there more than one version?
Yes. Besides the Madrid triptych there is a second version in the Escorial, near Madrid. Many specialists treat the Madrid work as the more important one. Do not confuse it with John Constable's famous Hay Wain, a calm English landscape painted three centuries later with a cart in a river; the two share a word and nothing else.
How should you look at it?
Start at the left wing and read towards the right, like a story.
In the centre, find the people who fight: the picture is full of small crimes.
Look for the one calm group: the praying angel at the upper left.
End with the closed Wayfarer panel, which gives the whole triptych a human scale.
Bosch is easiest to enjoy slowly, and How to Read a Crowded Painting is a good method for it. For more context, see our guide to the Northern Renaissance and Bosch's smaller Ship of Fools.
Where does it work as wall art?
The Haywain rewards a wall where people stand and look: a study, a library or a stairwell. Its warm golds and greens make it livelier than most dark Old Master prints, and it tends to start conversations. It is a good gift for someone who likes puzzles, folklore or the strangest corners of art history.
Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of Bosch's Haywain?
The hay stands for worldly goods that do not last. Bosch shows people of every class fighting over it, while heaven is ignored.
When did Bosch paint The Haywain Triptych?
Around 1512 to 1515, late in his career.
What is on the outside panels of The Haywain?
When closed, the wings show a lone traveller, the Wayfarer, walking along a road and leaving temptation behind.
Is Bosch's Haywain the same as Constable's Hay Wain?
No. Bosch's is a religious triptych from the early 1500s. Constable's Hay Wain is an English landscape from 1821.
If you like paintings with something new to find each time, The Haywain is available as a classic art print for a study, library or hallway.
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