Homo Bulla – A Boy Blowing Bubbles, Bartholomeus Van Der Helst (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1613-1670)
Blowing bubbles is one of the greats rites of passage in childhood and summer. Most of us can remember the initial frustration and eventual delight in learning just how hard to blow through that little metal or plastic circle and create a perfect bubble. It may be, in fact, one of the greatest examples of "play power," the amount of play a toy offers as it relates to cost.
According to the Bubble Blowers Museum website, bubble blowing goes back far into history with its first depictions in art dating to the early 18th century. Here are some examples of how fine artists showed their appreciation of the ephemeral nature of the soap bubble.
Edward Antoon Portielje (Belgian, 1861-1949), "Blowing Bubbles"
Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin, Soap Bubbles, Art History, 1733
Boy Blowing Soap Bubbles. Allegory on the Transitoriness and the Brevity of Life, Karel Dujardin, 1663
Carefree childhood days when you played and your imagination was able to soar with those bubbles through the sky!