Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel's detailed depictions of peasant life are filled with humanity and unusual irony. Vienna's Kunsthistorische Museum showcases the world's largest exhibition of the master's works.
Image: KHM-Museumsverband
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Pieter Bruegel: Once in a lifetime
To mark the 450th anniversary of the death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna has organized a comprehensive exhibition of many of his remaining works.
Image: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam Photographer: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam
The Tower of Babel
Bruegel was already a sought-after artist during his lifetime. "The Tower of Babel" is one of his most famous paintings. This painting usually hangs in Rotterdam. There is, however, a second version, which is located in Vienna. In the major Bruegel show, the two works of art are exhibited together for the first time. One difference: the Viennese picture is about four times as large.
Image: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam Photographer: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam
The Suicide of Saul
Four works of art were specially restored for the exhibition in Vienna. Among them was the painting "The Suicide of Saul" — a small-format painting that had never before been restored. The work documents that Pieter Bruegel also mastered miniature painting. "There is incredible precision in the smallest dimension," said Sabine Haag of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Image: KHM-Museumsverband
The Procession to Calvary
This picture has a special place in the exhibition: it is shown without a frame — and from both sides. "This was important to us because not only the front of a picture can be meaningful, but also the back," said Haag. In this case, you can see how thin the wooden panels really are — only 4-5 millimeters, stabilized with a wood-slatted frame.
Image: KHM-Museumsverband
View of the Bay of Naples
During his trip to Italy, Pieter Bruegel also went to Naples. However, he did not create his painting until 10 years later. The attribution of the painting to Bruegel was very controversial for a long time. Only now — after the restoration — have the curators of the exhibition decided to definitively attribute the painting to him.
Image: Galleria Doria Pamphilj
Two chained monkeys
Two small monkeys sit chained in a wall arch; in the background are a river and the port city of Antwerp. Technology helped the researchers reconstruct the individual phases of the creation of the image: from the priming, to the preliminary drawings, to the application of the various layers of paint.
Image: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie/Christoph Schmidt
Hunters in the Snow
This picture, too, has undergone extensive research. "It is the first winter picture in European art history," said Haag, about one of her favorite pictures. The analysis revealed that changes had been made to the image. Among other things, a hunter and a dog were added later.
Image: KHM-Museumsverband
Peasant Wedding
Bruegel was sometimes referred to as "Peasant Bruegel." Unjustifiably, the exhibition organizers in Vienna say. With this show they also want to show Bruegel's thematic breadth. "He was familiar with humanistic ideas, he traveled to Italy, he addressed social topics and religion. He was more than just an artist who depicted peasant life," said Haag.
Image: KHM-Museumsverband
The Beekeepers and the Birdnester
In a finely drawn landscape, three beekeepers in unusual protective clothing are handling their seemingly empty beehives. It is an enigmatic picture that seems to elude clear interpretation. The drawing is on loan from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and can normally be seen in the gallery of prints there.
Image: Foto: Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz Fotograf/in: Jörg P. Anders
The Triumph of Death
Stylistically, Bruegel is often compared to Hieronymus Bosch. In this painting, the situation is eerie: People are dying everywhere, skeletons seem to take over, there is no consolation, no redemption, no reference to a redeeming god. The picture was probably created around 1562. Normally, it hangs in the Prado in Madrid. In Vienna it can be seen until January 13, 2019.
Image: Museo Nacional del Prado
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Six years to prepare — a museum doesn't often have that much time. "It was a rare stroke of luck," confirmed Sabine Haag, director of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
The point of departure for the current Pieter Bruegel exhibition was a research project that began in 2012. The wooden panels on which the famous Renaissance artist painted were to be restored. The collection of the Vienna Museum contains 12 of the 40 surviving paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
New findings thanks to technology
The first step was to examine the image carriers, said Haag. Various technologies were used, for example, infrared photography to make signatures or drawing visible under the layers of paint, or X-rays to examine the carriers themselves — the painted wood, for instance — to determine what primer and color pigments were used.
"The investigations showed, for example, that under the layers of paint, there were drawings that were hidden and have hardly been researched so far," said Haag. "It was extremely exciting to see how Bruegel worked: if he normally primed the boards; if he made preliminary drawings; if changes were made."
The restorers were thus able to follow the process of creation of the respective picture, which not only contributes to a better understanding of the artist, but also provides important insights to better address conservation and restoration issues.
Pieter Bruegel's "The Hunters in the Snow" was the first winter depiction to appear in European art historyImage: KHM-Museumsverband
Exhibition very popular
The results were so considerable that the idea of a large Pieter Bruegel show was born. The response from international lenders was also intense. "We are receiving about 30 of the total of 40 preserved paintings, plus half of all preserved drawings and prints," Haag said. "Altogether we have about 90 works by Pieter Bruegel in this exhibition, which is very unusual. We hadn't even dreamed of that."
Especially since transporting the works of art has not been an easy task. "Wooden panels are usually very delicate, very fragile. For example, they are very susceptible to climatic fluctuations and changes in humidity," Haag pointed out. "This must always be considered: Do you want to expose the wooden panels to transport, to a change of location?"
The resulting exhibition is the largest collection of Pieter Bruegel's paintings shown in one place ever. "Many of the paintings have not been together for over 200 or 300 years, although they may have originally formed a series," said Haag. "This is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Searching for hidden objects in one of Bruegel's paintings Image: KHM-Museumsverband
Digital processing
Pieter Bruegel's pictures are very detailed; some of them remind you of today's popular seek-and-find picture books.
The website www.insidebruegel.net, which goes online parallel to the exhibition, offers visitors the chance to view the world of Pieter Bruegel digitally. One can dive into the artist's world of images and zoom in on individual paintings and analyze its details.
The website also features the results of the research project using different imaging methods, allowing to also discover what's hiding behind the artist's works.
The exhibition "Bruegel" — to mark the 450th anniversary of the death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder — can be viewed at Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum from October 2, 2018 to January 19, 2019.
