(Top) The Tower of Babel, 155x114 cm, 1563, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna collection. (Bottom) The Triumph of Death, 117x162 cm, c. 1562, Prado Museum Madrid collection. Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525/1530–1569) was the most sensual and poetic secular painter of sixteenth-century Northern Europe, concluding the Flemish Renaissance. Known as "Farmer Bruegel," he inherited Bosch’s tradition, using whimsy through naturalistic realism and symbolic forms to pioneer a popular, commoner-oriented painting theme (ranging from political and social satire to nature depiction). From allegorical fantasies to biblical stories, all reveal his keen observation. His paintings fall into three categories: 1. Fantasy or allegory; 2. Customs and folk life; 3. Biblical stories. (Fantasy and allegory): The Fall of the Rebel Angels. (Biblical stories): Carnival and St. Paul’s Conversion. (Customs and folk life, depicting daily scenes): Peasant Wedding, Peasants’ Dance, The Blind Leading the Blind, etc. His painted worlds are mostly noisy, akin to endless political and religious turmoil. His subject in The Tower of Babel reflects an ideal for future emerging cities.