The scene is set around February and March, portrayed by the bleak atmosphere and leafless trees. The paper crown around the boy's head and the eating of
waffles are references to the
Carnival time prior to
Lent. The sky, the ships crashing against the shoreline, and the children preparing themselves in the foreground suggest that harsh weather is coming. In this painting "The bold contrast of shadow and light, the knowing gradation between the planes, and the admirable harmony of yellows, tans and browns qualify this work as a masterpiece. It exudes an ardent melancholy, a strange quality, at once gentle and powerful, that touches and penetrates the viewer". Bruegel is famous for his paintings of scenery and nature. Most of his paintings of the countryside tell a story or have a
moral message. The surviving
Months of the Year cycle are: File:Pieter Bruegel de Oude - De sombere dag (vroege voorjaar).jpg|
The Gloomy Day File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder- The Harvesters - Google Art Project.jpg|
The Harvesters File:Die Heuernte.jpg|
The Hay Harvest File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Hunters in the Snow (Winter) - Google Art Project.jpg|
The Hunters in the Snow File:Pieter Bruegel d. Ä. 103b.jpg|
The Return of the Herd File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Spring, 1565 - Google Art Project.jpg|
Spring, 1565, original presumed lost ==See also==