Bruegel, Hunters in the Snow (Winter)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the Snow (Winter), 1565, oil on wood, 118 x 161 cm (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker & Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

[jimmillward]

My late Mother had a huge print of this painting behind her writing desk in our home so i grew up knowing this image and remember being completely fascinated by it's complexity. The picture stirred all manner of emotions in me and i loved it. it imbues feelings of struggle against the elements but with a hint of the warmth of community and a feeling of "We are going to make it through this together" Only now as an adult and looking at it again i noticed the man in the foreground by the fire, looks as though he is about to throw a table onto the fire, suggesting problems in sourcing wood to burn, it must be bad when your furniture becomes fuel. Also notice the figures in the centre background trying to extinguish a chimney fire, one of them rushing across the bridge with a ladder towards the house with the burning chimney. The two females on the ice in the bottom right near the bridge, one pulling the other across the ice with a rope

[michaelbruns]

This stunning panoramic masterpiece radiates stunning and haunting details.

[grumpysorc]

The greatest person in the whole History of the Culture ( to me ). With all due respect to many others...

[lizclegg]

I really like this painting.  I always feel a kind of angular energy from it.

[aurora_occidentalis]

A masterpiece and a beautiful, . complex, world unto itself. Go to Tarkovski's stunning homage in the 1970 Solaris film adaptation, the levitation scene.

[mukinmukin]

That is the first ever visual depiction of ice hockey being played

[anniestumpy]

I like this painting a lot, thank you!

[ericnicholson]

Insightful discussion - making art meaningful for today!

[bearlincs]

0:52. That dead animal on the hunter`s back looks more like a fox to me!

[n___p_]

Wonderful commentary! I think the rabbit is a fox, you can see its tail hanging down

[kirschrot]

Agree with John Ballantine, the animal on the hunter´s shoulder is a fox

[christopherbonis]

Am I just ignorant, or is this a rather unusual style of painting for the 16th century? Looks more to me like something one would see in the late 19th! So much is familiar even to the contemporary eye despite being almost half a millennium old!

[Sasha]

I think this is my first Netherlandish painting.
Despite my Baroque orientation, genre paintings are a favorite focus of mine too. I love seeing the little slices of real life.
Prosaic = commonplace, unromantic. Good vocab for me.

[ericpeck]

Love this painting, but a couple things. First, you say this was one of six panels dedicated to the seasons. I just read a book by Wolfgang Stechow and he argues pretty convincingly that it was one of twelve, each devoted to a month, and this is January. Second, I believe it's a fox, not a rabbit, being carried by one of the hunters.

[marian.g.]

¡MUCHAS GRACIAS POR MOSTRANOS ESTAS PINTURAS MARAVILLOSAS DE ESTE GRAN GENIO!

[tylerl]

16th Century Europe. These winters were extra cold and the summers were sometimes very warm.

[AbitibiMac]

I recently purchased a print of this painting and it looks very old. I found an embossed Anton Schroll and Co. Vienna. I was curious when it was printed and if it`s of any value. Thanks.

[yuriklaver]

On his back is a fox, not a rabbit - my guess.

[squamish]

The painting is also seen as corroborative evidence of the Little Ice Age, which at this point was at its peak and northern European winters were harsh.

[internetsurvivor]

"I've been hiding in snow. I've been treading on ghosts."