Tell (2020) depicts Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Magpie on the Gallows (1568), hand-painted on the front side of 40 playing cards. Arranged in a grid, the cards form what...
Tell (2020) depicts Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Magpie on the Gallows (1568), hand-painted on the front side of 40 playing cards. Arranged in a grid, the cards form what is considered to be Bruegel’s last painting.
More than a third of the picture is devoted to a world landscape seen from an elevated viewpoint. In the foreground near the center of the composition sits a magpie, perched on the crossbeam of a torqued gallows. An ever-present fixture of village life, the gallows was used as a means to regulate human behavior with the threat of capital punishment. Here, its twisting posts seem to become enlivened, poised to descend upon the villagers below.
Next to the gallows, a group of peasants dance and play music (“dancing on the gallows”). Meanwhile, two figures observing the landscape gesture out towards the vista beyond. In the bottom left corner of the composition, another peasant squats among the trees and defecates in its shadows (“shitting on the gallows”). This oblivious behavior can be interpreted as a symbolic mocking of the state and a reflection of the turbulent political atmosphere of Bruegel’s age. Relatedly, the magpie (known for its intelligence and song) can be interpreted as the gossip and rumors that lead to hangings.
A “tell” in poker is a revealing look into a player’s intentions and the value of the cards they hold. Similar to the dangers of gossip, these revelations or plays of deception may result in dire consequences. The rhythmic display of playing card suits enveloping Bruegel’s scene alludes to the games and complexity of themes that playing cards evoke, such as chance, strategy, cunning, illusion, and the supernatural. This motif, amidst a festive mood, surrounding a haunting instrument of death sets an enigmatic stage for our harbinger of doom—a little bird atop the gallows, singing to the world.