Twelfth Night by Jan Steen at the Gemaldegalerie
Before we begin, let’s take a page out of Jan Steen’s book.
Jan Steen is a total wine mom. He sits there with his kids and slurs “drinking is bad for you” when he’s on his fifth beer. By that I mean, he’s well known for painting chaotic household scenes (aka a “Jan Steen Household”) where most likely everyone is drunk, but he paints them as a “warning” of what could go “wrong” when you drink “too much.” But you can’t really blame him because he was born of brewers and became a brewer. So he and his family aren’t so much alcoholics as they are invested in the family business. My point is, drink responsibly and don’t peer pressure anyone (directly).
Okay now that I got the responsible part out of the way, we can start talking about alcoholics.
Did you know that it’s estimated that two thirds of Dutch genre paintings show people drinking? And a lot of them were painted by Adriaen Brouwer! He died young, but he was old in party-wisdom. He drank so much that there’s actually a beer named after him, so be sure to chug some of those this March 17 in his honor.
Inn With Drunken Peasants by Adriaen Brouwer at the Mauritshuis
Willem de Kooning was an alcoholic bred of an alcoholic, but it’s cool because he got a lot of action ~if you know what I mean~. All things considered, he got to be pretty old and he had a great time doing it. And even though moving to America was the biggest disappointment of his life (maybe), he was still able to become a kickass successful artist.
Woman, I by Willem de Kooning at the Museum of Modern Art
Alright I’m gonna stop here before we get into some sad bios. Remember, that while getting day drunk while wearing green body paint is usually a great idea, it isn’t always. Take care of your bodies and your minds, folks!
By: Maya
Contributor