Interior of a Tavern

Adriaen Brouwer composed this tavern scene around 1630 in a loose, brushy manner using varying shades of brown to suggest rural informality. A man urinates against a post while others drink and smoke. Brouwer focused on the wide variety of facial expressions and gestures of tavern-goers.

The Flemish painter became an important innovator of genre painting through vivid depictions of peasants, soldiers, and lower-class individuals. Even during his lifetime, Rubens and Rembrandt owned his works. His expressive faces and unidealized scenes influenced Dutch and Flemish art. Now at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.