Netherlandish Proverbs
The object
the figure urinating against the moon
The story
The figure illustrates the Flemish saying hij pist tegen de maan, he pisses against the moon, an idiom for futile defiance against the inevitable. The same construction survives in English slang. Bruegel populated the panel with over a hundred such proverbs, each visualised literally. Most are catalogued; some have died out; a few are still spoken. Now at Gemäldegalerie, Berlin @gemaeldegalerie_smb
The reel
The painting
