An Analysis of the View on Children in Bruegel's Children's Games

The genre painting Children's Games by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, a Netherlandish painter in the middle of the sixteenth century, depicts the scenes of secular children's play, and it contains a view on children in the period. Through the analysis of the image and the related literatures, this article discovers the artist's exploration of children's lively and active qualities, the affirmation of children's autonomy, and the idea of separating children from adult life and giving them humanistic care. His masterpiece was influenced by the humanist ideas of the Renaissance and the realist tradition of Netherlandish art. For today's Paedology and Pedagogical studies, it is valuable to examine the view on children in Children's Games as follows. Firstly, it rejects Ariès's view that there was no concept of "children"in Europe before the 17th century, and it reveals the origins of the modern view on children. Secondly, the cultural spirit underlying children's games helps to discover the general trend in the evolution of the view on children. Thirdly, at a time when traditional games are steadily disappearing, the humanistic spirit of the artist's vision of the realm of secular life and concerns about the future of humanity are a warning bell for educators and a reference resource for understanding children's issues today.