Why is pieter bruegel famous

Closest to us, a farmer pushes a plow and horse. To his right, on a lower plateau of land, a shepherd tends to his flock. In the right foreground, a fisherman with his back to the viewer casts his net at the water's edge, while close to the shore in the bottom-right, two legs kick in the air: a comically minute reference to the titular narrative, which therefore seems to unfold in the background of the scene.

This is one of two paintings by Bruegel, which depict the story of Icarus as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses. These were the only two works which Bruegel created on mythological themes, in marked contrast to his contemporaries' focus on heroic narratives. The story revolves around the death of Icarus, the boy who wanted so badly to fly that he constructed wings out of wax and feathers. Failing to heed his father's warning not to fly too close to the sun, his wings melted and he plunged into the sea.

We might expect that this tragic denouement would form the focal point of Bruegel's painting, but instead it becomes one incident woven into an all-encompassing representation of common rural life, the demise of the hero rendered almost laughable in its head-first ignominy.

The composition is both irreverent and subtly philosophically resonant, expressing a clear skepticism for the bombastic mythological painting that had dominated the previous century of Renaissance art. This work has been the subject of much moral speculation, revolving especially around the various figures who remain ignorant of Icarus's plight, only the shepherd glancing up towards the sky, and not even towards the relevant spot.

The displacement of Icarus from center-stage has been interpreted as a directive to remain focused on one's own daily life. William Dello Russo has even suggested that the painting may illustrate a well-known Netherlandish expression, "one does not stay the plow for one who is dying. In one of his more lurid and chaotic paintings, Bruegel offers us a dense allegorical representation of the competing drives underpinning human character by showing the customs associated with two festivals closely aligned in the early-modern calendar.

To the left, the figure of the Carnival holds sway: a fat man astride a beer barrel with a pork chop pinned to its front, spit-roasting a pig and wearing a meat pie as a helmet.

He presides over a scene populated by jesters, revelers, musicians, thieves, and beggars. To the right, the gaunt figure of Lent, in the habit of a nun, extends a platter of fish, in defiance of his richer offerings. Behind her, hooded figures emerge from the archway of a church, in which the artworks are shrouded in the custom of the season of abstinence. To the other side of the canvas, the tavern provides an equivalent backdrop, standing for the sins and pleasures of the flesh.

Bruegel's complex symbolic representation of contrasting states of sin and piety, pleasure and pain, judgement and redemption, finds its most obvious precedent in the work of an older Netherlandish master, Hieronymus Bosch. What is notable, however, is the lack of any implied supernatural subtext to Bruegel's scene: where Bosch shows us the dire consequences of human error, Bruegel presents the spirit of the Carnival as a force of rebellion and subversion without seemingly offering any positive judgement either way.

The battle between Carnival and Lent stood partly for a contemporary struggle unfolding in Bruegel's home country. In the Low Countries, in possession of the vastly powerful Habpburg dynasty, passed to King Philip II of Spain, who sought to bring it under a more direct and stricter form of Catholic rule.

At the same time, the Netherlandish countries were close to the heart of the unfolding Reformation movement, which viewed Catholic festivities such as Lent with profound suspicion. The carnivalesque energy of the left-hand side of the painting stands not so much for the emergent spirit of Protestantism - which tended to be more repressive of the traditional festive calendar than Catholicism - but for the obdurate pagan customs and rebellious character of an oppressed culture.

This painting shows Bruegel's mastery of complex composition, often based on strong diagonal lines bringing overall cohesion to a large number of intersecting focal points. In The Netherlandish Proverbs , a village setting is chosen as the location for a variety of eccentric and superstitious rituals.

The actions undertaken by the villagers represent approximately different Netherlandish proverbs, all related to the oddities of human behavior. In the left foreground a man bangs his head against a brick wall, representing the tendency of a fool to continue attempting the impossible; to the right, a figure leans distraught over a pot of spilt porridge, reminding the viewer that completed actions cannot be undone.

Bruegel is noted for his busy compositions, involving many groups of figures engaged in small interactions. These individual compositions in turn establish an overall theme, often satirical or didactic, a compositional approach which has had a profound impact on art history.

The influence of Bruegel's allegorical tableaux can be sensed, for example, in the work of the Dutch Symbolist and Expressionist James Ensor, who uses a similar compositional style in Christ's Entry into Brussels and The Baths at Ostend Bruegel's significance as a forerunner of modern art lies not only in his breaking away from the ordered vanishing-point perspectives and carefully-managed figurative arrangements of the Italian Renaissance, but also from the idealized moral style and grandiose subject-matter which those features implied.

By depicting the foibles of everyday human life, Bruegel expanded the range of subjects available to the Renaissance painter with characteristic, irreverent wit. A vast, partially constructed tower dominates Bruegel's extraordinary work The Tower of Babel. Surrounding the structure is a landscape dotted with tiny figures, some of whom march in procession around its curving stories, while others toil at the scaffolds along its sides.

The Harvesters The Suicide of Saul River Landscape with a Sower The Gloomy Day Early Spring The Magpie on the Gallows Give us feedback. Read Next View. Suite Hotel Pincoffs Rotterdam. Restyled Villa With Dishwasher and Whirlpool, sea at 1 km. Splendid Villa in Zeewolde With Jacuzzi. Maasparel Nextdoor. Skipper 4 - Overnachten in Stijl. Bij hen op Ameland. Lovely Cottage Near Sea in Wemeldinge. Whilst producing religiously themed paintings on several occassions, Peasant Bruegel, as he became known, was mainly focused on the life of the poor within his local community.

Early on he would produce perhaps what he remains best known for today - sprawling landscape scenes with dozens of small figures living normal lives. The later style that he developed were for closer positions to the action where more detail of each figure could be seen and understood. Bruegel Paintings are amongst the finest art to have come from the Dutch region during the 16th century and they were created by several artists from the Bruegel family whose most famous painters were Pieter the Elder and Pieter the Younger, both of whom are covered in great detail within this website.

There was also Jan the Elder and Younger too, and some of their paintings are also included here. You will find below a selection of images of the best paintings to have come from these artists as well as discussion of both of their careers and lives.

You can also enjoy the finest art from Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the large gallery of famous paintings below, click through to read more about the history of each painting. A list of Bruegel drawings can also be found here. The Bruegel family also included Jan the Younger and Elder although their success as artists was less significant. Of Pieter the Younger and Elder, the latter certainly achieved the most academic acceptance and his career continues to be the stronger in the modern day.

The Bruegels are still very much remembered and have a place within the impressive development of Dutch art over the past years. The Dutch Golden Age helped to give this country significant exposure across Europe and it's artists continue to receive exposure today. Bruegel paintings are amongst the best examples of traditional Dutch art.

Both Pieters enjoyed reflecting on the lives of ordinary people and would often create huge landscapes that were filled from tip to toe with peasants going about their daily lives in all sorts of interesting ways that made their large scale works impressively detailed. It was relatively unusual for painters to concentrate on the poorer elements of society during this time as most preferred the glamour of the rich and famous, whose commissions also helped them to pay their bills and open up new opportunities.

All of the paintings included within this website cover the best known of all from the careers of these two talented Dutchmen, with many more worth checking out for those who can spare the time. There is a fuller list further down the page which concentrates on expanding on the portfolio of work from these two related painters. All Bruegel images included within this website are also accompanied by links to Art.

We use them ourselves, so are happy to recommend their excellent service. Hunters in the Snow is amongst the best known Bruegel painting. Pieter Bruegel the Elder and his lesser known son, the Younger, are just a small part of the impressive list of Netherlands-based painters to have contributed to the development of European art since the Middle Ages, with most others being part of the Dutch Golden Age.

This art movement helped to push North European artists to the forefront at that time, having previously followed far behind the Italian Renaissance schools of artists. Since the rise of Dutch art, we have seen further developments in France, UK and Spain to complete a varied period in this continent since the arrival of the early Renaissance.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's paintings were well known for being impressively large pieces which featured both dramatic landscape scenes and also imaginative portrayals of local life within them. Each character would be involved in a different activity to the next, and this would make each of his paintings very intriguing, with considerable amounts of detail to cover for the viewer.

Historians cannot agree on these questions and several theories coexist today. Het Schilder-Boek recounts the life and work of more than painters, from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, to 16th-century German, Italian, and Netherlandish artists. Van Mander wrote a chapter about Pieter Bruegel. Yet, the mystery remains, as two different places match his description. The second is the village of Brogel or Brueghel near the city of Bree, formerly known as Brida or Breda in Latin, in modern Belgium, close to the Dutch border.

There is also no certainty as to his date of birth, although specialists have established it was between and According to van Mander, Bruegel worked before that for another of the great Flemish painters, Pieter Coecke van Aelst. During the s and 30s, artists from the Low Countries traveled to Italy as part of their artistic education. Following this trend, Bruegel went to Italy in The goal of his trip was not the discovery of the Italian masters, but knowledge of nature.

He returned home with numerous landscape drawings , some of which served as print models. Back then, prints constituted one of the few means to circulate knowledge. So Bruegel drew dramatic mountainous landscapes, something never seen in the flat grounds of the Dutch and Flemish territories. Between and , Pieter Bruegel made a series of twelve drawings of alpine scenery, which served as printing models.

The artist developed his landscape drawing technique, influencing all his future production. He depicted natural elements in a precise and detailed way.

Bruegel never met Bosch as he was born almost ten years after his death, but he knew his work.