In this unusual work, a hooded misanthrope, refusing to look at the world, is being robbed by the small figure in a glass ball, a symbol of vanity. The inscription on the painting reads: “because the world is perfidious, I am going into mourning.” A pastoral scene stretches behind the misanthrope, depicting a shepherd, his flock, and a windmill.By all this, Brueghel states that to be a misanthrope is a kind of vanity. Moreover, to be a misanthrope is to rob yourself—perhaps of the joys of the world and its simple goods, such as the ones pictured in the background.
Brueghel steps outside of his typical subjects in the theme for this work. Indeed, this project resembles a Salvador Dalí painting, employing invisible characters and odd actions to express the artist’s intent.
