Conversation Pieces: The World of Bruegel

by Alexandra van Dongen, Abdelkader Benali, Katrien Lichtert

In 2019, it will be 450 years since the death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1526/28-1569). To mark this anniversary, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is organizing the first ever retrospective of Bruegel's work, while The World of Bruegel will be shown in the Bokrijk Open-Air Museum. The two institutions are joining forces to bring Bruegel's masterpiece The Fight Between Carnival and Lent (1559) to life. An important key in this respect are the numerous everyday objects that are depicted in the painting. In collaboration with the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam) and the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), the props that Bruegel depicted have been examined and interpreted from a contemporary perspective. The authors allow the objects to speak for themselves, preceded by an introductory essay by curator Sabine Pénot of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Just as Bruegel's paintings were 'conversation pieces' in their day, intended to trigger a discussion between guests during dinners, this book presents a three-way conversation about The Fight Between Carnival and Lent through Bruegel realia, in which art history (Katrien Lichtert), historical design (Alexandra van Dongen and Lucinda Timmermans) and literature (Abdelkader Benali) enter into a dialogue.

In A Conversation Piece, the authors reveal the humor, symbolism, imagery and hidden stories behind the everyday objects in the painting. The exhibition Pieter Bruegel the Elder will run from 2 October 2018 to 13 January 2019 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and the exhibition The World of Bruegel will be on display in the Bokrijk Open-Air Museum from 6 April to 20 October 2019.

Genres: Art

112 pages, Paperback

Published December 7, 2018

Reviews

[Marinela Florea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a lovely, tiny book. I enjoyed particularly the fact that objects have a literary voice. I loved how the batter bowl, the dice, the trencher, the well bucket and the rag doll spoke for the reader.

For instance, 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁: 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡. 𝐼𝑓 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝐼'𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑗𝑜𝑏 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝐼'𝑚 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑡, 𝐼 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒. 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙. 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒. 𝑁𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑒. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠.