‘Adriaen Brouwer: Master of emotions’

1604, Pamele near Oudenaarde. In the family of Adriaen de Brauwere and Maria de Sutter, a boy is born after two girls: He is called Adriaen, like his father. Adriaen senior works in the industry.

Oudenaarde has been an important centre of the tapestry industry since the 15th century. from Oudenaarde are purchased throughout Western Europe. But things have not been going well for some time. There is great unrest in the Spanish Southern Netherlands. The economic situation is difficult for many tapestry weavers, including Adriaen de Brauwere. He is in debt.

1614. The De Brauweres make a tough decision: the family will migrate! To Gouda, in the Northern Netherlands. At that time the city was an important centre for drapery in the Northern Netherlands. Among other things, this was owing to tapestry weavers who had moved there from Oudenaarde. Adriaen senior finds work there. Adriaen junior spends his teens in Gouda.

1625. Adriaen Brouwer is in Amsterdam. As a young painter, perhaps he works for an art dealer and makes paintings to replenish the shop’s stock.

Adriaen soon has a network in the art world. In that small world, he undoubtedly meets . Rembrandt will later buy a lot of drawings by Brouwer. Brouwer admires Rembrandt and Rembrandt admires Brouwer.

In the capital of the Republic, Adriaen becomes better acquainted with ... Flemish painting. After all, the art dealers there have a sizeable stock by masters from the South. It is very much in demand. Brouwer notes the popularity of paintings in the tradition of Pieter Bruegel. This gives him ideas ...

Meanwhile, Adriaen commutes between Amsterdam and , a distance of just under twenty kilometres.

1626. Adriaen Brouwer enrols in the Haarlem rhetoricians’ chamber De Wijngaertranken (Tendrils of the Vineyard). This is a society that young men join to write poetry, perform plays and do a bit of networking. Many of its members are artists. They meet weekly and each member has his own motto. Brouwer’s is: ‘I hope even more’.

Adriaen also registers with the city's , the professional association of artists. Perhaps he trained with the great first. In any case, Brouwer quickly develops a reputation in the city. A couple of his sisters and brothers also live there.

The clever painter takes a good look at the art market. In Haarlem he sees a new genre in painting: depictions of rich young men and women having a good time. The painters seem to be mocking them a bit. Brouwer applies this new Dutch genre to the Flemish tradition of Bruegel: he brings together influences from the Northern and Southern Netherlands in his artworks. 1631-1632. Adriaen Brouwer moves to . He registers as a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in the city on the Scheldt. This means he plans to stay, but he still travels back to Haarlem several times, probably to visit family.

As a painter, Brouwer immediately makes a great impression in Antwerp. His scenes depicting smokers and drinkers are highly innovative – thanks to inspiration from the Northern Netherlands. Adriaen keeps a sharp eye on the latest fads there. He is one of the first painters to depict people enjoying a smoke.

At the beginning of 1633, Brouwer is arrested in Antwerp after one of his visits to Haarlem. He even spends time locked up in the Citadel. Why, we don’t know: Maybe he was wearing Dutch clothes and was taken for a spy? He also has debts but will pay them off with paintings.

Adriaen Brouwer becomes a master of emotions. They simply fascinate him. He paints expressive faces and focuses on representing the senses and their effects. Brawls and alcohol consumption produce scenes in which the emotions run high. Brouwer also likes to portray ‘’: expressive heads that range from comical to caricatural and grotesque. Rembrandt also likes to paint them. In this the two masters share something in common.

His depiction of himself and a few fellow painters smoking and drinking in a shabby interior is something unheard of. This is probably his only self-portrait. It is a perfect example of Adriaen Brouwer the painter-humourist.

In Antwerp in the 1630s, the period in which Brouwer is active there, Peter Paul Rubens is the big name in town. Not only do the two have contact with each other, they admire each other. Rubens has no less than 17 paintings by Brouwer in his collection.

In his Antwerp years, Adriaen Brouwer also paints landscapes. He is fascinated by the effects of light at various moments and the corresponding atmosphere. His landscapes look surprisingly modern, even impressionistic.

In this same period, at the end of his career, Rubens also devotes himself to landscapes. The two masters seem to engage in friendly competition, as is customary among artists. It is no coincidence that Rubens owns at least five landscapes by Brouwer. In 1635, Rembrandt also acquires six paintings by Brouwer, as well as drawings. The two admire him.

Adriaen Brouwer dies in Antwerp in 1638, when he is only around 34 years old. We are in the dark as to the exact cause of his death. However, we do know that he dies in poverty: he is buried in a pauper’s grave. At the initiative of several colleagues and artist friends, including Rubens, Adriaen Brouwer is reburied one month later in Antwerp’s Carmelite Church.

Adriaen Brouwer's work, which comprises approximately 65 paintings and a handful of drawings, has since been distributed all over the world and can be found in major museums. A worthy tribute to the master from Oudenaarde. Where it all began.