James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and printmaker, an important influence on

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and

surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

who lived in

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

for most of his life. He was associated with the artistic group Les XX.

Biography

Ensor's father, James Frederic Ensor, born in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

to English parents, was a cultivated man who studied engineering in England and Germany. Ensor's mother, Maria Catherina Haegheman, was Belgian. Ensor spent his childhood in a souvenir shop run by his parents. He was fascinated by the carnival masks sold at the shop and these masks would become a source of inspiration in his works. Ensor himself lacked interest in academic study and left school at the age of fifteen to begin his artistic training with two local painters. From 1877 to 1880, he attended the

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels ( ''(ArBA-EsA)''; ) is an art school in Brussels, Belgium, founded in 1711. Starting from modest beginnings in a single room in Brussels Town Hall, Brussels' Town Hall, it has since 1876 been operat ...

, where one of his fellow students was Fernand Khnopff. Ensor first exhibited his work in 1881. From 1880 until 1917, he had his studio in the attic of his parents' house. His travels were very few: three brief trips to France and two to the Netherlands in the 1880s, and a four-day trip to London in 1892. During the late 19th century, much of Ensor's work was rejected as scandalous, particularly his painting '' Christ's Entry Into Brussels in 1889'' (1888–89). The Belgian art critic Octave Maus famously summed up the response from contemporaneous art critics to Ensor's innovative (and often scathingly political) work: "Ensor is the leader of a clan. Ensor is the limelight. Ensor sums up and concentrates certain principles which are considered to be anarchistic. In short, Ensor is a dangerous person who has great changes. ... He is consequently marked for blows. It is at him that all the harquebuses are aimed. It is on his head that are dumped the most aromatic containers of the so-called serious critics." Some of Ensor's contemporaneous work reveals his defiant response to this criticism. For example, the 1887 etching "Le Pisseur" depicts the artist urinating on a graffitied wall declaring (in the voice of an art critic) "Ensor est un fou" or "Ensor is a Madman." Ensor's paintings continued to be exhibited and he gradually won acceptance and acclaim. In 1895 his painting ''The Lamp Boy'' (1880) was acquired by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, and he had his first solo exhibition in Brussels. By 1920 he was the subject of major exhibitions; in 1929 he was named a

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

by King Albert, and was the subject of the Belgian composer Flor Alpaerts's ''James Ensor Suite''; and in 1933 he was awarded the band of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. Alfred H. Barr Jr., the founding director of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York, after considering Ensor's 1887 painting ''Tribulations of Saint Anthony'' (now in MoMA's collection), declared Ensor the boldest painter working at that time. Even in the first decade of the 20th century, however, Ensor's production of new works was diminishing, and he increasingly concentrated on music—although he had no musical training, he was a gifted improviser on the harmonium, and spent much time performing for visitors. Against the advice of friends, he remained in

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

despite the risk of bombardment. In his old age, he was an honored figure among Belgians, and his daily walk made him a familiar sight in

. He died there following a short illness, on 19 November 1949 at the age of 89.

Art

While Ensor's early works, such as ''Russian Music'' (1881) and ''The Drunkards'' (1883), depict realistic scenes in a somber style, his palette subsequently brightened and he favored increasingly bizarre subject matter. Such paintings as ''The Scandalized Masks'' (1883) and ''

Skeletons Fighting over a Hanged Man A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

'' (1891) feature figures in grotesque masks inspired by the ones sold in his mother's gift shop for Ostend's annual Carnival. Subjects such as carnivals, masks,

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – wikt:inanimate, inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. S ...

, skeletons and fantastic

allegories As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

are dominant in Ensor's mature work. Ensor dressed skeletons up in his studio and arranged them in colorful, enigmatic tableaux on the canvas, and used masks as a theatrical aspect in his still lifes. Attracted by masks' plastic forms, bright colors and potential for psychological impact, he created a format in which he could paint with complete freedom. The four years between 1888 and 1892 mark a turning point in Ensor's work. He turned to religious themes, often the torments of Christ. Ensor interpreted religious themes as a personal disgust for the inhumanity of the world. In 1888 alone, he produced forty-five etchings as well as his most ambitious painting, the immense '' Christ's Entry Into Brussels in 1889''. Also known as ''Entry of Christ into Brussels'', it is considered "a forerunner of twentieth-century

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

." In this composition, which elaborates a theme treated by Ensor in his drawing ''Les Aureoles du Christ'' of 1885, a vast carnival mob in grotesque masks advances toward the viewer. Identifiable within the crowd are Belgian politicians, historical figures and members of Ensor's family. Nearly lost amid the teeming throng is Christ on his donkey; although Ensor was an atheist, he identified with Christ as a victim of mockery. The piece, which measures by inches, was rejected by Les XX and was not publicly displayed until 1929.J. Paul Getty Museum
Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889.
Retrieved 18 September 2008. After its controversial export in the 1960s, the painting is now at the J. Paul Getty Museum in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. As Ensor achieved belated recognition in the final years of the 19th century, his style softened and he painted less in the 20th century. Historians have generally seen Ensor's last forty or fifty years as a long period of decline, although noting a few original "superb and poignant" compositions from his later period. One author identified significant works of Ensor's late period such as ''The Artist's Mother in Death'' (1915), a subdued painting of his mother's deathbed with a still life of prominent medicine bottles in the foreground, and ''The Vile Vivisectors'' (1925), a vehement attack on those responsible for the use of animals in medical experimentation. Another stated "He would still paint pictures magnificently vigorous and bold, but they would be exceptions rather than the rule" noting works such as ''Our Two Portraits'' (1905), ''The Deliverance of Andromeda'' (1925), ''Port of Ostend'' (1933) and ''Ensor at the Harmonium'' (1933). The aggressive sarcasm that had characterized his work since the mid-1880s was less evident in his few new compositions, and much of his output consisted of mild repetitions of earlier works. Several still life paintings, void of social, political, or introspective content, stand out among his later works. Ensor turned increasingly to music in his later years, playing the harmonium and even composing a ballet-pantomime in one act, ''The Scale of Love'' (1907), complete with an original libretto, sets and costumes. He is known to have stated in later years that he had followed the wrong path in life, feeling that he should have devoted himself to music.

Gallery

Early work (1879–1884) File:James Ensor (1879) - De vrouw met de wipneus 001.jpg, ''Woman with Turned-up Nose'' (1879), oil on canvas mounted on wood, 54 × 45 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:James Ensor (1880) - De rog 001.jpg, ''The Skate'' (c. 1880), oil on canvas, 79 × 98.3 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:James Ensor (1880) - Stilleven met chinoiserieën 001.jpg, ''Still Life with Chinoiseries'' (1880), oil on canvas, 100 × 78 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp File:Namiddag in Oostende, James Ensor, 1881, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, 1852.001.jpeg, ''Afternoon in Ostend'' (1881), oil on canvas, 108 × 133 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:James Ensor (1882) - De oestereetster 001.jpg, ''The Oyster Eater'' (1882), oil on canvas, 207 × 150 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:James Ensor, Meadow Flowers (1883) oil on canvas, 113 x 97.5 cm., Minneapolis Institute of Arts.jpg, ''Meadow Flowers'' (1883), oil on canvas, 113 × 97.5 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Arts File:James Ensor The Rower.jpg, ''The Rower'' (1883), Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:James Ensor, Scandalized Mask (1883) oil on canvas, 135 x 112 cm., Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''Scandalized Mask'' (1883), oil on canvas, 135 × 112 cm, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor (1884) - De daken van Oostende 001.jpg, '' The Rooftops of Ostend'' (1884), Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp Mature work (1885–1899) File:James Ensor (1887) - Uitdrijving Adam en Eva uit het aards paradijs 001.jpg, ''Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise'' (1887), oil on canvas, 205 × 245 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:Tribulations of Saint Anthony 1887.jpg, ''Tribulations of Saint Anthony'' (1887), oil on canvas, 117.8 × 167.6 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York File:Astonishment of the Mask Wouse, 1889.jpg, ''Astonishment of the Mask Wouse'' (1889), oil on canvas, 131,5 × 109 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:James Ensor, Skeletons Warming Themselves, 1889.jpg, ''Skeletons Warming Themselves'' (1889), oil on canvas, 74.8 × 60 cm, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth File:Muenchen Neue Pinakothek Ensor Still Life.jpg, ''Attributes of the Studio'' (1889), oil on canvas, 83 × 113.5 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich File:L'Intrigue (James Ensor, 1890).jpg, '' The Intrigue'' (1890), oil on canvas, 90 × 150 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:The Assassination by James Ensor, 1890.JPG, ''The Assassination'' (1890), oil on canvas, dimensions unknown, Columbus Museum of Art (inspired by the death of Antoine B. Fualdès) File:James Ensor, Les bons juges, 1891.jpg, ''The Good Judges'' (1891), oil on panel, 38 × 46 cm, private collection File:Ensor, De man van smarten, 1891.jpg, '' The Man of Sorrows'' (1891), Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:1891 James Ensor Squelette se disputant un pendu.jpg, ''

'' (1891), Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:James Ensor La Raie.jpg, ''Still Life with Ray'' (1892) oil on canvas, 80 × 100 cm, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor, Les cuisiniers dangereux, 1896.jpg, ''The Dangerous Cooks'' (1896), oil on panel, 38 × 46 cm, private collection File:James Ensor (1896) - Bloemen en groenten 001.jpg, ''Flowers and Vegetables'' (1896), oil on canvas, 79 × 98 cm; collection Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp File:James Ensor, Le grand juge, 1898.jpg, ''The Great Judge'' (1898), oil on canvas, dimensions unknown, private collection File:James Ensor, Self Portrait with Masks (1899) oil on canvas, 117 x 82 cm., Menard Art Museum, Komaki, Japan.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Masks'' (1899), oil on canvas, 117 × 82 cm, Menard Art Museum, Komaki Later work (1900–1949) File:James Ensor - Still Life with Chinoiseries - INV1959.jpg, ''Still Life with Chinoiseries'' (c. 1906), oil on canvas, 85 × 105 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp File:Ma mère morte, 1915, oil on canvas, 75 x 60 cm, Kunstmuseum aan Zee, Ostend.jpg, ''My Dead Mother'' (1915), oil on canvas, 75 × 60 cm, Mu.ZEE,

File:James Ensor - Phantastisches Stillleben - 3914 - Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.jpg, ''Fantastic Still Life'' (c. 1917), oil on canvas, 16 × 21.5 cm, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna File:1921 Ensor Stilleben mit Kohl anagoria.JPG, ''Still Life with a Cabbage'' (1921), oil on canvas, dimensions unknown, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands File:James Ensor Mädchen-mit-Masken Kommunion.jpg, ''Girl with Masks'' or ''Eucharist'' (1921), oil on canvas, 57.2 × 52.5 cm, Städelsches Art Institute and Urban Gallery, Frankfurt File:James Ensor, Finding of Moses (1924) oil on canvas, 119 x 128 cm.jpg, ''Finding of Moses'' (1924), oil on canvas, 119 × 128 cm, private collection File:James Ensor, The Vile Vivisectors (1925), oil on canvas.jpg, ''The Vile Vivisectors'' (1925), oil on canvas, dimensions and collection unknown File:James Ensor, Ensor at the Harmonium, 1933.jpg, ''Ensor at the Harmonium'' (1933), oil on canvas, dimensions and collection unknown

Printmaking

Ensor was a prolific and accomplished printmaker. He created 133 etchings and drypoints over the course of his career, with 86 of them made between 1886 and 1891 during the height of Ensor's most creative period. Ensor himself recognized that the prints were a key part of his artistic legacy, stating in a letter to Albert Croquez in 1934: "Yes, my intention is to go on working for a long time yet so that generations to come may hear me. My intention is to survive, and I think of the solid copper plate, the unalterable ink, easy reproduction, faithful prints, and I adopt etching as a means of expression." In 1889, Ensor created two highly political etchings. The first, titled ''Doctrinal Nourishment'' r ''Alimentation Doctrinaire'' depicts key figures in Belgium—a bishop, the king, etc.—defecating on the masses of Belgium. The second, titled ''Belgium in the XIXth Century'' or ''King Dindon'', depicts King Leopold II watching as military figures violently quell a protest. These prints are very rare today because Ensor attempted to remove them from circulation after being named Baron and many others were lost during the war. File:James Ensor, The Cathedral (1886) etching, 25 x 19 cm., Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.jpg, ''The Cathedral'' (1886) etching, 25 × 19 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent File:James Ensor, Ernest Rousseau (1887) drypoint, 24 x 18.1 cm., Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.jpg, ''Ernest Rousseau'' (1887) drypoint, 24 × 18.1 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent File:James Ensor, Houses on the Boulevard Anspach in Brussels (1888) drypoint, 13.9 x 9.2 cm., Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.jpg, ''Boulevard Anspach'' (1888) drypoint, 13.9 × 9.2 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent File:James Ensor, Country Fair Near a Windmill (1889) etching, 13.8 x 17.8 cm., Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.jpg, ''Country Fair Near a Windmill'' (1889) etching, 13.8 × 17.8 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent File:James Ensor, My Portrait in the Year 1960 (1888) etching, 6.9 x 12., Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.jpg, ''My Portrait in the Year 1960'' (1888) etching, 6.9 × 12 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent File:James Ensor, Peculiar Insects (1888) drypoint, 11.9 x 15.9 cm., Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''Peculiar Insects'' (1888) drypoint, 11.9 × 15.9 cm, Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor, Alimentation Doctrinaire (1889) etching, 17.8 x 24.8 cm., Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp.jpg, ''Alimentation Doctrinaire'' (1889) etching, 17.8 × 24.8 cm, Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp File:James Ensor, King Pest (1895) etching, 10 x 12 cm., Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''King Pest'' (1895) etching, 10 × 12 cm, Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor, Demons Taunting Me (1895) etching, 11.8 x 15.8 cm., Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.jpg, ''Demons Taunting Me'' (1895) etching, 11.8 × 15.8 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent File:James Ensor, Christ Tormented by Demons (1895) etching and drypoint, 17.9 x 24.2 cm., Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.jpg, ''Christ Tormented by Demons'' (1895) etching and drypoint, 17.9 × 24.2 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent File:James Ensor, The Devils Dzitts and Hihanox Lead Christ into Hell (1895) 13.9 x 17.8 cm., etching and drypoint, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.jpg, ''The Devils Dzitts and Hihanox Lead Christ into Hell'' (1895) 13.9 × 17.8 cm, etching and drypoint, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent File:James Ensor, Death Pursuing Humanity (1896) etching, 24.1 x 18.2 cm., Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.jpg, ''Death Pursuing Humanity'' (1896) etching, 24.1 × 18.2 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent File:James Ensor, Plague Below, Plague Above, Plague Everywhere (1904) etching, 19.7 x 29.8 cm., Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp.jpg, ''Plague Below, Plague Above, Plague Everywhere'' (1904) etching, 19.7 × 29.8 cm, Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp The Seven Deadly Sins File:James Ensor, Death Dominating the Deadly Sins (1904) etching, 9 x 14 cm., Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''Death Dominating the Deadly Sins'' (1904) etching, 9 × 14 cm, Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor, Seven Deadly Sins, Anger (1904) etching, 9.8 x 15 cm., Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''Anger'' (1904) etching, 9.8 × 15 cm, Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor, Seven Deadly Sins, Avarice (1904) etching, 9.8 x 15 cm., Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''Avarice'' (1904) etching, 9.8 × 15 cm, Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor, Seven Deadly Sins, Envy (1904) etching, 9.8 x 15 cm., Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''Envy'' (1904) etching, 9.8 × 15 cm, Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor, Seven Deadly Sins, Gluttony (1904) etching, 9.8 x 15 cm., Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''Gluttony'' (1904) etching, 9.8 × 15 cm, Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor, Seven Deadly Sins, Lust (1888) etching, 9.8 x 13.7 cm., Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''Lust'' (1888) etching, 9.8 × 13.7 cm, Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor, Seven Deadly Sins, Pride (1904) etching, 9.8 x 15 cm., Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''Pride'' (1904) etching, 9.8 × 15 cm, Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels File:James Ensor, Seven Deadly Sins, Sloth (1902) etching, 10 x 14 cm., Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels.jpg, ''Sloth'' (1902) etching, 10 × 14 cm, Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels

Honour

* 1919: Commander of the Order of Leopold

Influence and legacy

Ensor is considered to be an innovator in 19th-century art. Although he stood apart from other artists of his time, he significantly influenced such 20th-century artists as

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

, Emil Nolde, George Grosz, Alfred Kubin,

Wols WOLS (106.1 MHz) is a Regional Mexican radio station, owned by Norsan Media. Licensed to Waxhaw, North Carolina, the station identifies itself as “La Raza 106.1”. The station’s studios are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the tra ...

, Felix Nussbaum and other expressionist and

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

painters of the 20th century. As

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

CEO and Wallis Annenberg director Michael Govan has explained: "James Ensor's signature style—his radical distortion of form, his ambiguous space, his riotous color, his muddled surfaces, and his proclivity for the bizarre—both anticipated and influenced modernist movements from symbolism and German expressionism to

dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

and

." Ensor's works are in many public collections, notably the

Modern Art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

Museum of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, and Mu.ZEE in

. Major works by Ensor are also in the

in New York, the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

, Paris, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. A collection of his letters is held in the Contemporary Art Archives of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels. The Ensor collections of the Flemish fine art museums can all be seen at the James Ensor Online Museum. Ensor has been paid homage by contemporary painters and artists in other media. The Belgian artist Pierre Alechinsky (b. 1927) and noted member of

COBRA COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

, painted ''The Tomb of Ensor'' (1961) in homage to Ensor, which is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He is the subject of a song, "Meet James Ensor", recorded in 1994 by the

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

duo

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...

. The 1996 Belgian movie '' Camping Cosmos'' was inspired by drawings of James Ensor, in particular ''Carnaval sur la plage'' (1887), ''La mort poursuivant le troupeau des humains'' (1896) and ''Le bal fantastique'' (1889). The film's director, Jan Bucquoy, is also the creator of a comic inspired by Ensor. An exhibition of approximately 120 works by James Ensor was shown at the

in New York City in 2009, and then at the

, Paris, October 2009 to February 2010. The Getty mounted a similar exhibition June to September 2014. The Art Institute of Chicago exhibited Ensor's 1887 masterpiece ''The Temptation of St. Anthony'' from November 2014 through January 2015, along with other important paintings and etchings. From October 2016 through January 2017, the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in London hosted a major exhibition of Ensor's paintings and etchings, curated by the Belgian artist Luc Tuymans. The black artist Kara Walker painted a controversial work, "Christ's Entry into Journalism", inspired by Ensor in 2017. The yearly philanthropic " Bal du Rat mort" (Dead Rat Ball) in Ostend continues a tradition begun by Ensor and his friends in 1898. In the movie ''

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

'' (1978), a poster of one of Ensor's self-portraits appears on the wall of a room in Laurie Strode's (Jamie Lee Curtis) home. The 2024 game "Please, Touch The Artwork 2" is a hidden object game where almost all of the artwork and even some of the game's music are works by Ensor."Please, Touch The Artwork 2" on Steam
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References

;Citations ;Works cited * * * * * * * * ;Further reading * Berko, Patrick & Viviane (1981). "Dictionary of Belgian painters born between 1750 & 1875", Knokke 1981, p. 272–274. * Janssens, Jacques (1978). ''James Ensor''. New York: Crown Publishers Inc. * * *

External links

*
James Ensor Online Museum

James Ensor Archief – Publications by or with the cooperation of Patrick Florizoone

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060928092612/http://museum.antwerpen.be/kmska/Engels/Engels.htm Exhibition at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp: "Ensor and the Moderns"
The Getty Museum: James Ensor
*
James Ensor: The Temptation of Saint Anthony
' digital exhibition catalogue
Flemish Art Collection: James Ensor, Graphic Artist

"Goya, Redon, Ensor Grotesque paintings and drawings" 2009 Special Exhibition at KMSKA

2009 Ensor show at Museum of Modern Art, NYC
* Sanford Schwartz,
Mysteries of Ensor
" ''New York Review of Books'', 24 September 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ensor, James 1860 births 1949 deaths 19th-century Belgian painters Belgian male painters 19th-century Belgian male artists 20th-century Belgian painters 20th-century printmakers Artists from Ostend Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels alumni Belgian barons Belgian Expressionist painters Belgian people of English descent Belgian printmakers Belgian satirists Belgian humorists Belgian fantasy artists Belgian political artists Belgian Symbolist painters Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium Modern painters Belgian atheists 20th-century Belgian male artists