Artist of the Month

Pieter Bruegel The Elder (Breughel, c.1525 - Brussels, 1569)
Flemish painter and printmaker

The Painter and the Buyer (c.1565)
Pen and ink on paper

 Peasants, sometimes mocked in merciless caricatures and others as foolish victims of sin, are the protagonists of Bruegel's works. He developed such an interest in them that it is said he disguised himself as one and attended weddings, so as to keep record and create more believable works, earning him the nickname "Peasant Bruegel" 

 We know little about Pieter's life: born around 1525, somewhere near the Flemish town of Breda (probably Breughel). He traveled to France and Italy and returned to Antwerp in 1551, becoming master in a painter's guild. Continuous travels between Italy and the (then) Netherlands influenced his themes, becoming more socially oriented. Finally settled in Brussels some ten years later, where he died. He began a lenghty dynasty of painters: his two children, Jan and Pieter, developed a more Baroque taste for landscapes, and Jan's son also became a painter (Jan the Younger); but they all lacked the critical eye of their forefather.

Netherlandish Proverbs (1559)
Oil on panel, 117 x 163cm,
Staatliche Museen, Berlin 

 Enormously influenced by Bosch - like all Dutch artists at the time- his early large-scale works are chaotic and full of detail (like Netherlandish Proverbs, right), demons and fantastical creatures abound but without the first-time originalty of Bosch. His later style (from Brussels) is more calm, focusing on peasants and faithfully depicting their way of life with a subtle humour that emphasizes human foolishness, making his themes strikingly recognizable in our own days...