The Tower

canvas, oil painting

100/100 cm

2024

The work of artist Elen Bezhen has been significantly influenced by Pieter Bruegel, whose paintings she deeply admires. As an artist, Elen Bezhen is engaged in a constant creative dialogue with Bruegel’s works and ideas, which is reflected in her new piece titled “The Tower”. 

This painting is the most ambitious and detailed of all her works. It references the biblical legend and Bruegel’s famous painting, but Elen Bezhen takes the theme further by depicting the tower many years after it was abandoned by people. She was intrigued by the question: what happened to this majestic yet doomed structure? How did it gradually decay under the influence of time and nature, and how did animals come to inhabit the place fully? 

In his painting, Bruegel addressed the theme of human pride and divine retribution. Elen Bezhen seeks to continue this idea, but she focuses on the consequences of ambitious human projects. In her interpretation, the tower is no longer a symbol of rebellion against divine will but a monument to humanity’s self-destructive ideas aimed at defying the laws of nature.