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"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."— William Butler Yeats
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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Buddha the Bathtub Bruegel

Pieter Bruegel, that is. I found this wonderfully helpful site called ArtCyclopedia that allows you to browse artists in alphabetical order. They also have a "Top 30" link from which I selected Bruegel's name to be featured alongside my artistic son's. :D

Other than the fortuitous "B"eginning of his last name, I know nothing about the man. I'm just slightly obsessed with alliteration.

Anyway, because I'm no art buff. I decided to take the opportunity to learn a bit about this Pieter Bruegel who seems to be a relatively famous artiste. Here's what I learned:

1. He was a "Netherlandish Renaissance painter." And the Netherlands is close to Scandinavia . . . so . . . well . . . Buddha has Scandinavian roots. Close enough?

2. He was known mostly for his landscapes (unlike Buddha) and peasant paintings (totally Buddha - we've got plenty of peasantry around these parts. HA!).

3. He dropped the "h" from his name (formerly Brueghel), which I can totally relate to since I seem to have an affinity for adding a letter to mine.

4. He liked to dress up like a peasant so that he could mingle with "lower" society during social events like weddings and other celebrations and gain inspiration for his art. Translate: he was a 16th century party crasher.

5. He kind of reminds me of James Christensen in that he favored combining multiple illustrations/messages in one work. Like in the case of his piece Netherlandish Proverbs in which he depicts over 100 peasant-life proverbs in one painting:

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Faery Tales by James Christensen:

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And now you'll see just how similar Bruegel and Buddha really are.

Bathtub Tales by Buddha Bagel:

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P.S. Now I really want to know what all those 100 Netherland proverbs are! I think homeschooling and I are going to get along swimmingly.

P.P.S. I found them! I found the 100 proverbs/idioms! If you need me, you know where to find me. :D

Note: When commenting, please remember to refer to my family members by their pseudonyms to help protect their privacy. Thank you!

4 comments:

Miriam Herm said...

i hope you keep that up because it's amazing! what skill! you'll be an amazing homeschool mom!

Barbara said...

http://www.brucevanpatter.com/brueghel_painting.html

Children's Games By Pieter Brueghel is part of Core Knowledge kindergarten..so go mom! and Buddha for sure!!!
B.
Check it out....
"What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know" by E. D. Hirsch Jr.)

Barbara said...

http://www.amazon.com/What-Your-Kindergartner-Needs-Know/dp/0385318413

Liz said...

Thanks for the links, Barbara! And the encouragement! :D That first link is so, so true. I try to get my boys outside every day for at least a couple of hours. They love it out there and I try to turn a blind eye when they track in dirt and "treasures."