At first glance the Netherlandish Proverbs looks like a scene from a typical bustling town square. The sun is shining on the manmade buildings, which are worn and clearly overcapacity. People are moving about every which way, and menial chores are in progress around the square. There are women doing wash in the doorways, men shearing sheep in the street, children at play in the water, and fish on the fire, ready to sell. This is a village scene that Bruegel could have seen any day of the week. Delving deeper, however, the characters in the scene appear to be acting rather strangely.
In the foreground, several well-known proverbs can be recognized. Looking in the left corner, the viewer sees a woman literally “pinning down the devil”. She is kneeling at the foot of a pillow, her hands grasping a cloth which is bound tightly around an emaciated, sallow figure. The red hue of her shirt implies danger and evil; characteristics which are naturally associated with satanic symbols and ideas. This proverb typically means persistence overcomes anything. In Bruegel’s time, the 16th Century, it was often seen in poor taste for a person to choose to “pin down the devil”. People saw this trait as pure stubbornness. The woman in the painting is looking around her, concerned that others will see her actions and judge her for them. Bruegel’s reasoning for including this idiom is to explain the reason for conflict in a communal setting such as this. He is portraying stubbornness in the forefront of the picture to imply that it plays an important role in the common issues of the time. 
Adjacent to this lady in red, is a man who is “hitting a brick wall”. At the time Bruegel was painting, this proverb had a slightly different meaning than it does today. When somebody says they have hit a brick wall, it usually means they are stuck somehow, they cannot move forward. It used to hold the meaning that a person is attempting the impossible, as this man is trying to walk through the brick wall. Instead of a traditional hat, the man is wearing a helmet of sorts, seemingly aware of his fruitless act, obviously not jarred by it. 
Another man who is attempting the impossible, but getting nowhere fast, can be spotted in the water. This person is “swimming against the tide”, which can also mean to be participating in a rebellious act. Bruegel was a big fan of rebellion. He was one of the first artists to grab satire and really run with it. Many of his paintings were denied entry to the prestigious “academy”, where famous painters were chosen to be canonized, because of their “against the grain” features. His love for acting out of the norm is his reasoning for including two different characters to represent a similar sentiment. 
The man at the brick wall is also representing another idiom. Glancing to his feet, it is apparent that he only has one bare foot. This proverb is “one shoe on and one shoe off”, which shows indecision and an unbalanced individual. Bruegel often thought that indecision was the reason for many felled societies. When issues arose in European cities, Bruegel assumed it was due to indecision on the part of community leaders and found this to be the worst kind of trait. His decision to include this idea is in honor of his feelings toward leaders, and to make a statement about how they are hindering the progression of society. 
Moving the gaze to the center of the painting, there is a second woman dressed in red. She is clad in a lengthy, elegant looking dress, and is leading an elderly man in cloak. This woman is “pulling the wool over his eyes”. Typically this saying is in reference to tricking somebody, or getting away with a lie. The man is walking with a cane, a clearly worried expression on his face. This shows he is weak, and easily duped. His cloak is a light shade of blue, which is a traditionally pure or sacred color. The woman is in red, which is, as afore stated, reminiscent of danger and, in this case, infidelity. Her attire is revealing for the time, and would only be worn by women seeking the attention of men. She has one hand on his right shoulder, leading him forward, and the other hand on his head, pushing the cloak over his face and impeding his vision. The woman is fooling him as to her wandering activities, and, as seen in the whispering women behind them, she is publicly making a mockery of him. During Bruegel’s time, this was a widely used proverb. He was an early renaissance painter, working around the time of the Protestant Reformation. Anti-Reformers would say that the wild public was wooing each other with tricks and games, in short, pulling the wool over their eyes, until the Reformation was a wide spread movement.
Directing attention to the lower right corner, viewers see the depiction of a very well-known saying. A man in green is bent over a pail “crying over spilt milk”. The meaning of this proverb is usually along the lines of not making a big fuss about a trivial matter, or a matter that cannot be changed. The man in green is frantically trying to save his milk, which, as a peasant, is most likely his only source of income. His left hand is clutching his head, a sign of distress. Although his face is hidden, a furrow is thought to be present in his brow. His right hand is clasped around a wooden spoon, which is not necessarily the best tool for the task. This shows mild stupidity in the peasant man. Brueghel was an artist who liked to depict common folk as they were, not glorified. This simple action of spooning the milk, offers insight into Brueghel’s ideas of mankind. He loved painting the common, folk culture of Europe, and used it as the central focus in a majority of his works.
Born a Dutch man, Bruegel spent most of his life travelling between Italy and France. During his time in Lyon, France, he became close friends with a man who Bruegel referred to as “the most pessimistic man I ever knew”. A figure in the Netherlandish Proverbs is supposedly modeled after this man. In the front most building here is a man dressed in red who is leaning out of the second story window. This man is squatting down, his hind end hanging out, showing he is “shitting on the world”. This saying is not used freely in modern culture, but the meaning is still communicated. To “shit on the world” is to make everyone you encounter unhappy, therefore making the world a worse place to be. He’s sporting a dunce cap, or a ridiculous hat of sorts, which alludes to his personality. Bruegel is showing that this character is somewhat of a silly man, not understanding the implications of his actions. 
There is a character in the painting that is said to be Bruegel himself. In the bottom left corner is a man who is watching another man fall through a basket. He has his hands raised in a gesture of confusion and dismay. His face shows how amazed he is that such a ridiculous thing is happening before his eyes. Bruegel made this man in his likeness as an allusion to his personal feelings about the state of affairs in Europe. The first half of the 16th Century was a strange time for Bruegel. Living in both Italy and France gave him duel perspectives on the world. He saw the Italian Renaissance, contributing greatly to the historical body of work, and the start of the Spanish-French fight over control of Southern Italy. He also endured the Religious Wars of France, and nearly had his family torn apart by the plagues that followed the fighting. 
In the front left corner, behind the Bruegel doppelganger, are two men who are “pulling for the longest end”. Although this idiom is not still widely used, the meaning remains the same. Typically if somebody was pulling for the longest end, he or she was trying to obtain an advantage. These two men are made to look similar in dress, wearing neutral colors, but there are subtle important differences. The man on the right has a money bag hanging from his waistband, which symbolizes that he has more power. He is also holding onto the sturdy structure of a tree trunk for balance and strength. The man on the left is using both hands to desperately grasp the longer end, and he appears to be in the process of falling flat on his rear end. This shows him as weak and unable to overcome the other man. It is thought that these two men represent warring factions. Bruegel was strongly opposed to war, but lived through several wars in his lifetime. Although one of these men seems stronger than the other, Bruegel argues that the only reason for his power is the money. In this same way, the artist feels that the only way to effectively win a war is through money, and, in this reason, he finds such conflicts unjust.The mind of every painter is a complex place to play, but given the proper insight, it can be fascinating to pick apart. Pieter Bruegel was the patriarch of one of the greatest families in 16th and 17th Century artwork. He painted with conviction and a meticulous purpose for everything in his pieces. The Netherlandish Proverbs is one of his most esteemed works, and one of his most complex. This satiric look at the interworking of a community, a continent, and all of mankind, is a window into his personal opinions about the world, and a testament to his comedic sense. Bruegel was not a man to shy away from rebellion; he was a man of action. He took the already well-known phrases of his time and made them his own, so that people will not only look at this piece and see everyday scenes, they will see Pieter’s proverbs.
