Where Is The Ass in the School? See It at Private Collection

Q: Where can I see this drawing?

This work is at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in Germany. The museum complex houses major collections of European art including significant Renaissance and Northern European works.

Q: What does the image mean?

The scene illustrates a Flemish proverb meaning education cannot change nature. No amount of schooling will make a donkey wise. Bruegel often used proverbs to comment satirically on human behavior.

Q: What was Bruegel known for?

Bruegel painted peasant life, proverb illustrations, and landscapes. His moralizing works use humor and folk wisdom to comment on human nature, making him the greatest Netherlandish painter of his era.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder produced this satirical drawing illustrating the Flemish proverb about the futility of teaching a donkey to read. A classroom scene shows a donkey seated at a desk surrounded by scholars, mocking the idea that education can transform a fool. Bruegel's pen captures the absurd scenario with characteristic wit.

Bruegel was famous for his moralizing imagery drawn from proverbs and folk wisdom. This Renaissance drawing demonstrates his skill as a draftsman and his sharp eye for human folly. Now at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

This work is at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in Germany. The museum complex houses major collections of European art including significant Renaissance and Northern European works.

The scene illustrates a Flemish proverb meaning education cannot change nature. No amount of schooling will make a donkey wise. Bruegel often used proverbs to comment satirically on human behavior.

Bruegel painted peasant life, proverb illustrations, and landscapes. His moralizing works use humor and folk wisdom to comment on human nature, making him the greatest Netherlandish painter of his era.

The Ass in the School

Where to See It

The Artist

More by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Soldiers at Rest

Mountain landscape with a river

Big fishes eat small fishes

The Fight between Carnival and Lent

Also at Private Collection

Faun

Lorenzaccio

Marie Gallén at the Kuhmoniemi-bridge

A Beggar Warming his Hands over a Chafing Dish

Related Renaissance Works

Sistine Madonna

The Birth of Venus

The School of Athens

The Alba Madonna

Venus of Urbino

Venus with a Mirror

Laocoön

Pallas and the Centaur

About The Ass in the School

Own Art Like This