Art: The Peasant Dance by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

The Peasant Dance by Pieter Bruegel the Elder is a depiction of the peasant life in the late 1500’s. He was particularly interested in how they lived, dated, married, ate, dressed and relaxed. It was a life that fascinated him but also was part of his very core existence. To Bruegel it was a simple life that focused on the day’s happenings and seemed a natural existence connected to nature. 

The scene is lively and the painter is well known for his humanist pictures. The people within the painting are larger than life which appears to embolden their lives. Bruegel seems to be trying to make distance from himself and his peasant background by painting the figures oafish by nature.  He moved his way up the social ladder and continued to be fascinated by the way the peasants lived due to his deep connection with them. 

The painting shows a Madonna on the tree that appears to be ignored as the peasants engage in their fun. The life of the present, now, and materialism has made their way into his work in an apparent rejection of the spiritual realm. Some have argued that the deadly sins (i.e. hitting each other on the table) are all depicted within the painting somewhere with greed gluttony and lust being most prominent.   

Pieter Bruegel is a Flemish Renaissance painter born in Netherlands from 1525-1569. He was born at a time when Europe was in dramatic change. It was when Italy was at its highest artistic development and great masters like Leonard di Vinci and Michelangelo were cranking out their works. Humanism was part of human development in which people thought that humans were generally good and able to socially solve problems. All things were rooted in human nature and its capacities.

The Potato Eaters by Vincent van Gogh

The Potato Eaters-1885

The Potato Eaters presents five figures of which three are females and two are males. One of which appears to be younger than the others and standing before her family. The meal is simple consisting of baked potatoes without any type of dressing. Spices were expensive and imported from other areas. 

This meal was a regular staple for people who did not have the access to the refrigerated varieties we have today. The other woman is serving coffee for the group through cheap cups and a pot. You can see the conversation within the picture as the family discusses their daily happenings. One might be talking about the hens and the other about the saving of seeds. Their lives consumed them and filled up their conversational needs. It was all about survival.

The colors are dark which gives the painting a dark and dirty look. On the ceiling is a single hanging lamp that brightens the families faces. Even though each female is wearing drab clothing and a bonnet we can see a touch of youth behind the center figure's face. Life has yet to wear her down as you can see from the wonderment in her eyes. As a peasant farming family clothing was likely in high demand and coarse by nature. People simply didn’t throw their clothes in the washing machine or run down to Macy’s for another pair. 

The depiction is a real family in the spirit of naturalism painting styles. At this time the Great Recession (before the modern one) ran until 1879. This time was replaced a few decades later by the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The painting was completed by a young Vincent Van Gogh in 1885 who had not yet mastered his skills. Poverty was still everywhere as people have not had equal opportunities to achieve economic footing. It was just the beginning of a more global economy. This picture is about poverty and the simplicity of life that existed at the time for a huge percentage of the population.

The painting was originally finished in Netherlands as a study of “real” people. Vincent van Gogh wanted to depict people as he saw them. To him these peasants were not only the backbone of the country but also legitimately earned their food. He stated in a letter, "You see, I really have wanted to make it so that people get the idea that these folk, who are eating their potatoes by the light of their little lamp, have tilled the earth themselves with these hands they are putting in the dish, and so it speaks of manual labor and — that they have thus honestly earned their food. I wanted it to give the idea of a wholly different way of life from ours — civilized people. So I certainly don’t want everyone just to admire it or approve of it without knowing why.”

What Van Gogh was capable of doing was creating a “snap shot” of life in the rural countryside. Even though they were poor they were still together. To him people actually worked hard to achieve the things they needed in their lives. Imagine if we were living back then where backbreaking work was the norm and only a very few luxuries of life were available. There were no credit cards, buses, racks of clothing, and medical benefits. With such a hard time people had an average mortality rate of 50 years or less. Now look around at all the things you have! Do you still have each other? Perhaps their poverty provided them a rare gift?

Death and the Miser by Hieronymus Bosch

Death and the Miser- 1490

The painting Death and the Miser by Hieronymus Bosch, around the year of 1490, was designed to help people remember that death is inevitable despite the power of wealth. As you can see in the picture a man on his death bed is reaching for a bag of gold. Around the room are various creatures of death that lurk and tempt the man. There appears to be stages in life depicted within the picture. In the front of the picture are weapons and armor, followed by older age with wealth and finally ending in death. The picture is hosted in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

Hieronymus Bosch lived most of his life around the Duchy of Brabant (Netherlands). He is one of five children of which both his father and four siblings were painters. He married Aleyt Goyaerts van den Meerveen who was from a wealthy family and they lived in her inherited home. Artistic scholars view his paintings as a result of ultra orthodox beliefs of his location and time that mixed religion with local folklore.

Such paintings come from the Early Netherlandish and Northern Renaissance period where Gothic works were still popular. The region was under Burgundian influence and therefore earned wealth by making luxury goods and products. Such works were a result of local free thought and artistic experimentation of the period. Many of the productions were sent to the open market in Germany and Italy.

Around the time this painting was produced the Duchy of Brabant was given to the House of Hapsburg through the dowry of Mary of Burgundy in 1477. The area was considered wealthy and markets could be found in the largest of towns in the provinces. Two influential Chancellors by the name of Hugonet and the Sire d'Humbercourt were executed in Ghent for having correspondence with France. Upon her marriage two centuries of contention between the Hapsburgs and France began.

It should also be remembered that the plague had some influence in the Netherlands during this time and may have had some impact on the region. The work could have some association with the painters perceptions and fears within his life. This was a period where Christopher Columbus was setting sail to find a new trade route to India and Leonardo di Vinci was cranking out artistic endeavors. Brabant's fleets were destroyed while its cloth trade was one of the best in the world. It wouldn't be a far stretch to even consider the painting as a representation of the interest of outsiders in local wealth.