Children's Games

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

1560 · Oil on oak panel · Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Size2:3 ratio

Frame

$59Unframed print · made to order

📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.

Complete the setHangs well with these two

3 × $59 at 16 × 24 in, unframed = $177 → $159.30 as a set · 10% included · free shipping

Choose different prints →

Giclée-printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper

Free shipping worldwide · arrives in 4–9 business days

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free

Secure checkout via Stripe

About this work

Artist: Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569)
Year: 1560
Medium: Oil on oak panel
Original size: 118 × 161 cm
Collection: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Movement: Northern Renaissance

Hundreds of children have taken over a town square and its streets: they roll hoops, walk on stilts, spin tops, ride hobby-horses and barrels, play leapfrog and blind man's buff, blow up a pig's bladder, stage mock weddings and mock tournaments, and even occupy the large civic building at the centre; at the top left a river opens into countryside where more children swim. Bruegel signed and dated the panel 1560. Around eighty particular games have been identified, making it a record of sixteenth-century play, but scholars think it also carries a moral: the children are as absorbed in their games as adults are in their own business, which in the sight of God may be no more important. It has been suggested it was meant as the first of a series on the ages of man, though no companion pieces are known. Karel van Mander mentioned it in 1604. Archduke Ernst acquired it in Brussels in 1594, and it hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.

Where it works

A sunlit town square packed with tiny children at play, warm ochre and brick with touches of red and blue, for a kitchen, family room or playroom at 24×36 in natural wood. A cream, sage or soft yellow wall; it pairs with Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters.

Style, size & framing detail

Style: Exhibition poster of a Northern Renaissance painting
Era: 16th century (1560)
Orientation: Portrait
Palette: cream & beige
Mood: classic
Rooms: kitchen, living room, dining room, dorm room, hallway or entryway
Good gift for: housewarming, art lovers

Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.

Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.

Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).

Details & materials

• Exhibition poster — original, drawn in-house • Heavyweight matte fine-art paper, giclée printed at 300 DPI • Sizes: 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in; every size also available framed • Framed option: wood frame in black or natural wood, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, with a plexiglass front and no mat; the print is mounted inside and the frame's outside measures the listed size • Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen

Shipping & returns

Printed after you order at the facility nearest you, then shipped. Standard delivery is free and takes 4–9 business days from order to door in the US, UK and EU (up to 10 elsewhere); Express takes 4–6 business days. Because each print is made to order we don't take change-of-mind returns, but if it arrives damaged or flawed we'll reprint or refund it — no return needed. Full policy →

Is this the whole painting, or a crop?

The whole work, uncropped. The exhibition-poster edition sets the complete image above typography designed in-house.

Is Children's Games in the public domain?

Yes. Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569) died more than 70 years ago and the work was published before 1929, so the painting itself is public domain. This print is a reproduction made from a high-resolution scan of the original, which is held by Kunsthistorisches Museum.

What is it printed on?

Heavyweight matte fine-art paper with pigment inks, made to order in 12×18, 16×24 and 24×36 inches; every size is also offered framed in black or natural wood, with plexiglass and no mat. Colours are matched to the scan, not brightened.

When was Children's Games painted, and in what medium?

Children's Games dates from 1560 and was made in oil on oak panel; the original measures 118 × 161 cm.

What size works above a sofa or bed?

Across a three-seat sofa or a queen bed, 24×36 is the size that reads as one statement piece; 16×24 suits a narrower wall or a pair. For Children's Games we'd choose 24×36.

About this design

A museum-exhibition poster of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Children's Games — Children's Games — a town square filled with some eighty games of hoops, stilts, leapfrog and blind man's buff — shown whole and uncropped beneath gallery typography. Bruegel: The Peasant and the Seasons, styled as a blockbuster exhibition print. A gallery-style exhibition poster: a celebrated public-domain artwork shown whole and uncropped beneath original exhibition typography set in-house — printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper. Every size is offered unframed or framed in black or natural wood. Part of the Madten Exhibition Posters Collection. — — — Printed to order and shipped by our production partner, Gelato.

Buy with confidence

The Madten promise

Gallery-grade archival giclée. Rich pigment inks on heavyweight fine-art paper (or gallery-wrapped canvas) — built to last, not a poster-shop print.

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free. Every piece is made to order; if it shows up damaged or flawed we remake it, no return needed.

Free worldwide shipping. Made & shipped from the facility nearest you — most orders arrive in 4–9 business days.

Secure checkout. Payments handled by Stripe; we never see or store your card.

Also available as