I Brueghel

Palazzo Reale presents I Brueghel (The Brueghels). Le origini dei generi pittorici in Europa (The Origins of Painting Genres in Europe), a major exhibition dedicated to the renowned Flemish artistic dynasty, featuring over 80 works, including paintings, drawings, and prints. Conceived by Bernard Aikema and curated by Carlotta Striolo, the exhibition explores the Brueghels’ fundamental contribution to the emergence of modern painting genres, from landscapes and still lifes to scenes of peasant life, allegories, and battle scenes.

The exhibition begins with Pieter Bruegel the Elder, who transformed the visionary legacy of Hieronymus Bosch into a more tangible form of painting, in which landscapes, popular festivities, and everyday life take centre stage. With his sons, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder, the family’s models were revisited, adapted, and disseminated through a well-organised workshop, helping to consolidate the dynasty’s success in an increasingly expanding art market.

Particular attention is devoted to Jan Brueghel the Elder, a cosmopolitan artist who spent time in Italy, worked for Cardinal Federico Borromeo, and contributed to the spread of Flemish painting in Milan and Rome. His travels and relationships with European courts fostered the development of new painting genres, from landscapes and allegories to exquisite small-format paintings.

The exhibition broadens its scope to include artists who adopted and reinterpreted the Brueghel legacy, including Roelant Savery, Pieter Stevens, Lucas van Valckenborch, and Paul Bril, highlighting an international network of exchanges and influences. The result is a portrait of an era of cultural and economic transformation, in which the Brueghel dynasty helped define themes and visual languages that would profoundly shape European painting.