生まれた場所や年ははっきりしませんが、アントウェルペンで画家として認められ、イタリアへも旅しました。のちにブリュッセルに移り、40代前半で亡くなりました。農民の祭りや子どもの遊び、ことわざ、季節の風景を、たくさんの小さな人物で描きこんだ絵で知られます。息子のピーテル（子）とヤン（父）も画家になり、画家一族のはじまりとなりました。
We do not know exactly when or where Bruegel was born. He became a master painter in Antwerp and traveled to Italy. Later he moved to Brussels, where he died in his early forties. He is known for busy pictures full of tiny people: peasant festivals, children's games, proverbs and the seasons. His sons Pieter the Younger and Jan the Elder also became painters and started a whole family of artists.
