Alcibiades Interrupting the Symposium 1600 - 1640

Peter Paul Rubens rendered this sketch of Alcibiades Interrupting the Symposium with pen and brown ink. Rubens, a leading figure of the Baroque, lived in a society undergoing significant political and religious upheaval. The artwork depicts a scene from Plato's Symposium, a philosophical text exploring the nature of love and desire. Alcibiades, a prominent Athenian statesman and military figure, bursts into the gathering, disrupting the intellectual discourse with his drunken revelry. In this moment, Rubens seems to be asking, who gets to be part of intellectual circles? Who is allowed to speak? Rubens captures the tension between reason and emotion, order and chaos, embodied by the contrast between the composed philosophers and the boisterous Alcibiades. The sketch emphasizes the raw immediacy of human experience. Rubens invites us to contemplate the complexities of human nature, the ever-present struggle between intellect and instinct, restraint and excess, all of which still resonate today.