Quintuplet Painting

Quintuplet Painting is unique in Subbi’s oeuvre due to its composition of five separate panels. 

Subbi creates a schematic representation of his philosophy of painting the earthly that became a rubric for his future works. It features elements of the female nude, expressive facial characteristics, a self portrait, a still life and a landscape. The composition is a reference to gothic altar paintings and the specific shades lead to Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490-1510), as he replicates the red shadowy panel on the right-hand side. Bosch’s triptych is a representation of Christian cosmology with references to inaccessible biblical worlds – The Garden of Eden, the antediluvian world and the pits of hell. Subbi’s painting also references the unreachable worlds behind the gossamer wall but his self portrait inserts some uncertainty. It is as if while working, he felt transported to this other world. He refused to sell this painting and it hung fir