Around 1450, Jheronimus van Aken is born in 's-Hertogenbosch, into a family of painters.
The young Jheronimus learns the painter's trade in the workshop of his father and family.
Bosch marries a wealthy woman from a patrician family, strengthening his social and financial position.
Bosch becomes a member of a prestigious religious brotherhood, expanding his reputation and network.
Bosch completes his most famous and most enigmatic triptych, full of fantastical creatures and surreal scenes.
Bosch paints another major work in which he combines demons, hybrid creatures and nightmarish visions with religious themes.
His fame reaches the highest circles of Europe; Philip the Handsome and later other noble collectors show interest in his work.
Bosch dies in his hometown of 's-Hertogenbosch and is buried in Saint John's Cathedral.
After his death, Bosch's compositions were frequently copied and imitated, among others by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and countless anonymous followers.
In the twentieth century, Bosch is rediscovered as a forerunner of surrealism and becomes the subject of intensive scholarly research.
Artists such as Salvador Dalí and André Breton saw in Bosch's dreamlike, symbol-rich worlds a spiritual forefather of their own surrealist art. At the same time, large-scale technical and iconographic research, such as the Bosch Research and Conservation Project around the five-hundredth anniversary of his death in 2016, led to new insights into his working methods and body of work. Exhibitions in 's-Hertogenbosch and Madrid drew record numbers of visitors that anniversary year and confirmed Bosch's status as one of the most fascinating artists in history.