Which European museum/gallery holds the largest collection of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder?

The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna owns the world’s largest Bruegel collection, featuring such wonders as the iconic Tower of Babel (ca. 1563), and The Peasant Wedding (ca. 1567) shown in the picture.

Although The Kunsthistorisches houses many of Europe’s greatest artists from the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, experts would probably say the works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder are the most important.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Born, 1525 – Died, 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes; he was a pioneer in making both types of subject the focus in large paintings. His visually engrossing paintings offer a celebration of the common mass of humanity, in contrast to the pious religious painting which dominated much Renaissance art of the previous century. His work focuses on themes such as rural working life, religion and superstition, and the political and social intrigues of his day, themes that were tackled with an unmistakable, droll and often grotesque humour, an interest in the collective over the individual, and a healthy scepticism for narratives of great deeds and men.

His eldest son, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, was also a well known artist, and like his father, he also painted compositions filled with detail that often included multiple narratives happening simultaneously, and The Kunsthistorisches Museum also has some of his paintings.