"All men are equal before fish."

Herbert Hoover (American president)

Out on a fishing trip, the water is smooth. A father turns to his child and says, "Look son, I have long known that the big fish eat the small fish." Is Dad just stating the obvious? Not exactly…

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "Big Fish Eat Little Fish", 1557, engraving; first state of four, 9 x 11.63 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Detail of the engraving.

These fishermen are floating alongside a rather gruesome scene. A giant fish, stranded on the beach, is having its innards opened by a man wielding a serrated knife.

From its belly emerge numerous little fish who release even smaller creatures from their own insides. Sushi, anyone?

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "Big Fish Eat Little Fish", 1557, engraving; first state of four, 9 x 11.63 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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Pieter Breugel the Elder, the 16th-century Dutch artist behind the image, had a penchant for creating fantastical scenes. He became famous for his works denouncing social problems and loaded with moral meaning.

What was he trying to say with this violent image? Titled Big Fish Eat Little Fish, it illustrates what the artist saw as the realities of the (fish) markets.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "The Netherlandish Proverbs" or "The Blue Cloak", 1559, oil on oak panel, 46 x 64.13, Staatliche Museen, Berlin.
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The man with the big knife represents the powerful people in society who benefit from the work of "the little guy." Breugel was alluding to the difficulties of bustling commercial life in the city of Antwerp (in today’s Belgium). Everyone fed off the work of someone else.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "Big Fish Eat Little Fish", 1557, engraving; first state of four, 9 x 11.63 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Detail of the engraving.

Including Breugel himself! Looking closely at the engraving, we notice that he signed it with a different name: Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch, a Dutch artist who deeply inspired Breugel, had died decades earlier. Breugel’s thinking was that his art would sell better under the more famous Bosch name.

Turns out some small fish were big enough to bite back.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "Big Fish Eat Little Fish", 1557, engraving; first state of four, 9 x 11.63 in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Detail of the engraving.

Pieter Breugel the Elder, "The Painter and the Buyer", 1565, pen and black ink on brown paper, 10.04 x 8.46 in., Albertina Museum, Vienna.
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WRITTEN BY

Clémence Faure

APPROVED BY

Gérard Marié

Professor of Art History

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