At first glance it's a busy Flemish village. Look closer and everyone is doing something absurd.

A man bangs his head against a wall. Another fills in a well after the calf has drowned. Someone is throwing roses before pigs. A woman ties a devil to a pillow. A man is literally armed to the teeth.

Bruegel packed this painting with well over a hundred proverbs and idioms, acting them out literally. Many we still use in English: banging your head against a wall, armed to the teeth, swimming against the tide. Others have faded from memory.

It is part picture, part puzzle and part satire — a whole world of human foolishness in a single village. Spend ten minutes with it and you'll probably recognise someone you know.