around 1605/1606 -1660/1661 · Antwerp, Adriaen Brouwer and Brussels

Smoke, grimaces and turbulent taverns make Joos van Craesbeeck a biting observer of the popular pleasures and excesses of Flemish Baroque.

Joos van Craesbeeck was born around 1605 or 1606 in Neerlinter. First a baker, he appeared in Antwerp in contact with Adriaen Brouwer, whose tavern scenes and expressive figures deeply oriented his painting. Received a master at the guild of Saint-Luc in the 1630s, he specialized in drinkers, smokers, arguments, workshops and allegories of the senses. Smokers and drinkers near a house, also called Les Mangeurs de Moules, did not reduce the popular scene to a simple mockery: gestures, dishes, smoke and body connections make up an almost tactile sociability. The Smoker, presumed self-portrait, transforms the expulsion of smoke and the open mouth into study spectacular sensation. Touch places man in the recess of a rustic window, as if the meaning itself becomes character. The Temptation of Saint Anthony broadens this expressiveness towards fantasy, monsters and inner vision. Craesbeeck later moved to Brussels, where his palette and compositions gained momentum. Died around 1660 or 1661, he remained one of the most unique voices on the Flemish genre scene after Brouwer. Died around 1660 or 1661, he remained one of the most unique voices on the Flemish genre scene after Brouwer. The selection "Joos van Craesbeeck" notably compares Smokers and Drinkers, Mussel Eaters and Painter making a portrait. His reading favors movement.

Craesbeeck paints sensation before morality: smoke, taste, laughter and anger pass first through the spectator's body.