Gloomy Day

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Gloomy Day: Pieter Brueghel the Elder

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Pieter Brueghel the Elder Oil Painting - Gloomy Day

Keywords: Gloomy, Day

Work Overview: The Gloomy Day (January)
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Original Title: De sombere dag
Alternative name: The Gloomy Day
Date: 1565
Style: Northern Renaissance
Period: Antwerp Period (1554-1562)
Series: Twelve Months
Genre: landscape
Media: oil, panel
Dimensions: 163 x 118 cm
Location: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

This is the second panel in the series of the Months painted by Bruegel for Niclaes Jonghelinck. This painting alludes to February which is shown as a dark, stormy month during which the peasants gather wood for their fires.

The paper crown on the boy's head refers to Epiphany, the Festival of the Three Magi; waffles were commonly consumed at carnival time prior to Lent. Following the custom at this season, willow branches are being cut for the construction of walls and fences. The mountains in the background demonstrate the threatening proximity of cold and snow; a further source of threat can be seen in the storm whipping up the waves and causing ships to sink. The Netherlanders were a seafaring people; they knew how dangerous the winter months are at sea. Water, mountains and the near intimacy of the foreground are held together by the picture's particular coloration. The towering trees in the middle serve to anchor the agitated landscape.

The Gloomy Day is an oil on wood painting by Pieter Bruegel in 1565. The painting is one in a series of six works, five of which are still extant, that depict different times of the year. The painting is currently in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, located in Vienna, Austria.

The scene is set around February and March, portrayed by the bleak atmosphere and leafless trees. The paper crown around the boy's head and the eating of waffles are references to the Carnival time prior to Lent. The sky, the ships crashing against the shoreline, and the children preparing themselves in the foreground suggest that harsh weather is coming.

Bruegel is famous for his paintings of scenery and nature. Most of his paintings of the countryside tell a story or have a moral message.

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Pieter Brueghel the Elder

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