has a rich heritage in the art world, including fine art depicting beer, brewing, and people enjoying it. Although many people associate art more closely with wine, a survey of art history shows that beer has been well represented throughout time in paintings and sculpture from cave paintings to modern museums.

Beautiful Color (oil on wood painting), c. 1900, by the German artist Hugo Kauffmann. pike microbrewery museum, seattle, wa

Ale Cans (watercolor on paper), 1964, by the American artist Jasper Johns (b. 1930). © boltin picture library/the bridgeman art library nationality

Beer’s prominent position in everyday life on every continent and in every culture is depicted in still-lifes of bottles, glasses, and tankards, in landscapes showing barley, wheat, and hops being grown and harvested, and in myriad paintings of celebrations showing people enjoying their beer.

One famous example is the French artist Edouard Manet’s “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.” It was painted in 1882 and depicts a female server behind a bar containing bottles of Bass ale with its iconic red triangle.

Another more modern example is American artist Jasper Johns’ watercolor “Ale Cans,” which is a pair of Ballantine ale cans that have been bronzed and mounted on a base, although the labels remain intact.

Early civilizations like the Sumerians and Egyptians have left behind sculptures of people brewing, along with paintings on clay that have also survived. As art evolved, it continued to depict the familiar, including 14th-century monks brewing and peasants drinking at harvest celebrations. Later, this became particularly true of Dutch and Flemish artists, who showed a flare for painting everyday scenes that included tankards of beer and tavern scenes.

Although many, if not most, artists at one time or another included beer in their work, a few famous painters who did so include Edgar Degas, Juan Gris, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, August Renoir, Rubens, and Vincent Van Gogh. Beer art has even been political at times, especially in the form of political cartoons. In 1751, British artist William Hogarth took things a step further, issuing his famous prints Beer Street and Gin Lane. Meant to be viewed side by side, Beer Street depicts healthy, happy people drinking beers while dancing together in the streets, whereas Gin Lane shows a dank street of poverty, neglect, and wanton abandon. Not surprisingly, Hogarth’s purpose was to suggest that beer was far better for society than gin; British society agreed and soon the Gin Act closed small gin shops and curbed the drastic overconsumption that had swept the nation.See also beer street (by william hogarth).