Dutch king opens Hieronymus Bosch exhibition

King Willem-Alexander opened a fifteen-year-in-the-making Hieronymus Bosch exhibition in the Noordbrabants Museum in 's-Hertogenbosch on Friday afternoon. The exhibition, titled Hieronymus Bosch - visions of a genius is part of the commemoration of the 500 year anniversary of the Dutch artist's death and consists of almost 40 of the his works - 20 paintings and 19 sketches, Omroep Brabant reports. 's-Hertogenbosch went all out for the opening of this exhibition. It started with a parade through the town with people dressed and acting as characters in Bosch's works. Hundreds of people lined the streets to watch the opening. Even the gate, from which the King removed a golden box to open the exhibition, was inspired by the artist's work. The opening can be watched here. Hieronymus Bosch was born as Jheronimus van Aken in 's-Hertogenbosch and was also raised there. His works depict major themes of the Middle Ages, such as temptation and sin. His art is full of illusions, hallucinations, strange monsters and nightmares. The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday and will be in the museum for three months. According to Omroep Brabant, more than 100 thousand tickets have already bee sold online, double the tickets that were sold for the Rembrandt exhibition in the Rijksmuseum.

En nog meer prachtige Bosch-figuren in onze binnenstad... #JB500 pic.twitter.com/w0B4eOxNN5

— 's-Hertogenbosch (@shertogenbosch) February 12, 2016

Heb jij de Bossche figuren al gespot in de binnenstad? #JB500 pic.twitter.com/GLncQp1ID8

— 's-Hertogenbosch (@shertogenbosch) February 12, 2016