Bruegel, Exhibition, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna: 2 October 2018-13 January 2019

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is constructing an astounding memorial for Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525/30-1569), by collating his entire oeuvre of 40 panels in this first ever monographic exhibition. Bruegel is certainly worthy of such attentions as an astounding if not the, greatest 16th century Netherlandish painter. The exhibition is the most pertinent way to mark the 450th anniversary of this talented artist’s death.

Bruegel’s fame and popularity came  from his originality and exceptional skill. His bold style and moralising compositions overflowing with intriguing characters, tell a captivating story: a story the viewer is unable to resist. Once you start to inspect a Bruegel painting, you sink through the layers of the picture’s multi-layered complexity.

Compared to many of the other great master who succeeded him, Bruegel’s works are preciously few and fragile. Only 40 of his paintings have been preserved well enough to see the light of today, all of them painted on delicate wooden panels. As a result, many of the pieces have never been aired outside their home gallery or museum. That is until this exhibition, when many paintings  will be reunitd  at  Vienna with the largest collection of Bruegel’s work from the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wein collection. This rare opportunity to see all of Bruegel’s surviving masterpieces in one place is nothing short of breath-taking.

Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien

Neue Burg Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna