The lands of Northern Europe, where grapevines cease to grow, and where grain-growing is central to its societies’ palates and industry, are beer-favoring nations. Below the border, in Southern Europe, viticulture dominates. And this is reflected in the artwork of these regions, from the Middle Ages right through to Modernism.
One painting that captures the stereotypical qualities of the beer-drinking image—marked by excessive consumption and by associations with the working class—is Vincent van Gogh’s 1887 painting, “In the Café: Agostina Segatori in Le Tambourin.” Although depicting the interior of a Parisian cafe (a city which hovers on the edge of Hop/Vine Divide), the painting shows several elements that are typical of European beer-drinking scenes. Segatori, the owner of the café, sits alone. This is not her first drink (the pile of glass coasters, which would be served one-per-glass, give this away), and her behavior—sat slumped, with a raucous hairdo, and smoking a cigarette—signals that she is not considered a refined, upstanding woman in society.
In Diego Velázquez’s 1628 painting “The Triumph of Bacchus” (also known as “Los Borrachos,” or “The Drinkers”), by contrast, we see a dainty wine glass held aloft in the background. This painting could be considered an emblem of the wine-drinking image: Wine is consumed as a social activity, and even amidst over-consumption—hinted at by the drinkers’ flushed faces and eager expressions—the depiction is elevated, evoking classical history and iconography.
Another example of the wine-drinking image—where consumption is framed as a socially sanctioned activity among the middle and upper classes, part of religious or domestic ritual—is Johannes Vermeer’s 1658 painting, “The Glass of Wine” Here, the act of drinking is an elegant one, with a socially acceptable distance kept between the male and female figures, and a symbol of temperance and emotional restraint captured in the details of the stained glass window, which shows a woman holding a level and bridle, making literal the moral goal of control and steadfastness.
But as neat and appealing as this thesis of clear division is, cracks begin to show when you look too closely at the Hop/Vine Divide (Vermeer, for instance, is a Northern artist). What looks like a neat, easy line shows itself to be a false dichotomy—especially in a modernizing Europe in which beer, wine, and artists themselves begin to travel more freely across the continent.
