Drink Art: The Peasant Dance by Pieter Bruegel

Drink Art is a regular feature of Lyke2Drink that looks at famous works of art depicting men and women enjoying life and drink.

The Peasant Dance
Pieter Bruegel (Bruegel the Elder)
Belgian, 1525-1569

While most artists of the time spent their careers painting the rich and famous, Pieter Bruegel (Brueghel) was content with chronicling the lives of ordinary folk. We know quite a bit more than we might otherwise realize about the customs and dress of citizens of Holland from the mid-1500s because of his works.

Only about four dozen of Bruegel's paintings survive, along with several hundred drawings. It has, after all, been more than four centuries since his death and the European continent has been ripped by wars on a regular basis. One of Bruegel's most famous works is The Peasant Dance, which features people dancing, eating and drinking. A Bruegel painting can normally be picked out because the subjects are in motion, trying to get as much out of life as possible. Bruegel is also recognized as one of the first western painters to focus on landscapes.

The Bruegel's were a Flemish painting family. Bruegel the Elder's two sons Pieter and Jan are recognized artists, as are several members of the clan.

The Peasant Dance, which was painted in 1568, is part of the collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.

His art is the inspiration for Bruegel Belgian Amber Ale from Brewery Van Steenberge. The 5.2 percent alcohol by volume beer has a scene from The Peasant Dance on the label.