Five centuries of celebration in Belgium: Bruegel, Jordaens, Hermans, and myself

1. Party Time in Belgium

2. Pieter Bruegel Self-Portrait

3. Pieter Bruegel, “The Peasant Dance,” 1569

4. “It is likely that Bruegel intended this painting to have a moral sense rather than simply being an
affectionate portrayal of peasant life. Gluttony, lust and anger can all be identified in the picture. “

5. “The occasion for the peasants' revelry is a saint's day, but dancers turn their backs on the
church and pay no attention whatsoever to the image of the Virgin which hangs on the tree.”

6. Any freelance musician who has played for parties will recognize the drunk audience member
who insists on talking to the musicians while they are trying to play.
“The man seated next to the bagpipe player wears a peacock feather in his hat, a symbol of vanity
and pride.”

7. Pieter Bruegel, “The Peasant Dance,” 1569

8. Jacob Jordaens and Family

9. Jacob Jordaens, “The King Drinks” (1640)

10. The sign over his head says, in Flemish:
"In een vry gelachllst goet gast syn"
(Where there is a free meal it is good to be a guest)
The old man in the center is Jordaens' father-in-law, the painter Adam van Noort.

11. Jacob Jordaens, “Feast of the Bean King” (1645)

12. This time the sign says (in Latin):
“Nothing is more like insanity than inebriation”

13. Jacob Jordaens, “The King Drinks” (1640)

14. “Charles Hermans” by Herman Richir

15. Charles Hermans “At Dawn” (1875)

16. “I tried to be as sincere as possible, while avoiding being both too sentimental and too realistic. The workers of the foreground, refreshed, peacefully
go to work in the morning, while the dissolute, dressed in black, stagger noisily out of the golden pleasure-shacks where they spent the night. On one
carnival day, I went out before sunrise to watch the parade of my actors. I have reproduced the scene completely as she made an impression on my
imagination, contenting myself to stay as simple as possible.
“It was claimed that my painting had a socialist reach. That is a mistake. I never thought of ennobling the worker by showing the decline of
debauched.” — Charles Hermans

17. The eyes of the beholders

18. Charles Hermans “At Dawn” (1875)

19. Brussles Beer Festival, 2015

20. Delirium Tremens Hats at the Brussels Beer Fest