And all this is done using only an enigmatic collation of colourful and bizarre objects, masks and props drawn from the items that Ensor hoarded in his sanctum-like studio in his home in a small house in the seaside Belgian town of Ostend. The passage of human life, these paintings assert, is little other than a stage-set, a satire, a carnival and a comedy of errors. In these works, the life of the outer, so-called ‘civilized’ world of manners and morals – the life of the church, of the state, of science and also of an entire array of bourgeois nicety – is rendered as nothing more than a colourful façade assembled in the face of death.

Pierrot et squelettes (Pierrot and Skeletons) is one of a celebrated series of paintings of masks and skeletons that James Ensor made repeatedly throughout his career. Winterthur, Kunst Museum Winterthur, Ensor - Picasso, Maskeraden, March - June 2021 (no cat). 216 (illustrated).įrankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle, James Ensor, December 2005 - March 2006, pp. 143 (illustrated).īrussels, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Ensor, September 1999 - February 2000, no. Ostend, Provinciaal Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Van Ensor tot Delvaux: Ensor, Spilliaert, Permeke, Magritte, Delvaux, October 1996 - February 1997, p. (illustrated n.p.).īrussels, Galerie Patrick Derom, Ensor, la mort et le charme- Un autre Ensor, April - June 1994 (no cat.). London, Whitford & Hughes Gallery, A Clear View: The Belgian Luminist Tradition, April - May 1987, no. 69 (illustrated) this exhibition later travelled to Kamakura, Museum of Modern Art, January - February 1984 Sendai, Miyagi Museum of Modern Art, February - April 1984 and Saitama, Museum of Modern Art, April - May 1984. Hyogo, Museum of Modern Art, James Ensor, December 1983 - January 1984, no. Ghent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Veertig kunstenaars rond Karel van de Woestijne, January - March 1979, no. Ghent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ensor in de Gentse verzamelingen, July - September 1969, no. 74.īrussels, Galerie Isy Brachot, Ensor dans les collections privées, December 1965 - January 1966, no. Ghent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Schilderijen uit Gentse verzamelingen, March - May 1953, no. Venice, XXV Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d’Arte, June - October 1950, no. Paris, Galerie de la Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Ensor, June - July 1939, no. 36 (titled ‘Masques et squelettes’).Īntwerp, Kunst van Heden, L’Art contemporain, May 1921, no. 939.īrussels, Galerie Georges Giroux, James Ensor, January 1920, no. Venice, XI Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte della Citta' di Venezia, April - September 1914, no. Ostend, Kursaal, Salon des Beaux-Arts, July - September 1907, no.

James Ensor by Xavier Tricot