The Triumph of Death…
Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Pieter Bruegel the Elder was a rebel of the 16th century, a man who embodied punk rock 400 years before the term existed. He documented the life of the peasant “working class” and dared to challenge the social structures of his time. He did so through his paintings, which ridiculed the religious and economic systems that characterized the Reformation era in Holland. On his deathbed, he asked his wife to destroy some of his most inflammatory works, so that his family would be safe from persecution. His style embodied that curious mixture of lewd and holy that seems to characterize medieval Europe. His subjects are murderous skeletons and scenes of massacre, and he obviously took great pleasure in his depictions of the Seven Deadly Sins, where a chaotic jumble of bodies twist and writhe as they fornicate and gorge themselves. His work as a definite element of satire to it, as if he is poking fun at the seriousness of religion’s rules. Just as he is able to capture the spirit of joy in his peasant dances and markets, he uses vibrant color to darken his landscapes, staining them with blood red skies and dank earth. His Tower of Babel looms high above the earth, and glows with an ominous and evil aura. After the jump, check out how medieval punk rock got down.