Flanders sets its sights on James Ensor, marking the 75th anniversary of his death

For 2023, Flanders is focusing on James Ensor (Ostend, 1860 - 1949, the most important representative of Belgian Symbolism and one of the fathers of modernism, on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of his death. Indeed, VisitFlanders is committed to promoting a positive and sustainable model of tourism, focusing on visitors who consciously choose Flanders as a destination capable of meeting and nurturing their passions, in this case art. Once again this year their focus is on art, the centerpiece of this territory’s extremely rich cultural heritage. Of note, a major enhancement and rediscovery project that will involve James Ensor himself. Ostend and Antwerp, cities closely linked to the artist’s life, will dedicate a rich cultural program to him, with a city festival and numerous exhibitions. The first two scheduled exhibitions will start as early as the end of 2023 in the painter’s hometown of Ostend, leading toward a calendar of events that will extend into 2024 and feature the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), along with the two cities’ leading cultural institutions.

On December 12, 2023, a carnival event with parades in pure Ensor style will open the various initiatives dedicated to him, including the exhibitions Rose , Rose, Rose, A mes yeux, from December 16, 2023 to April 14, 2024 at Mu.ZEE in Ostend, and In your wildest dreams, Ensor beyond impressionism, in fall 2024 at KMSKA in Antwerp. While the first exhibition will focus attention on the theme of still life, which is present throughout the pictorial work of Ensor and other Belgian artists, the second will see the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) compare Ensor’s work with that of important artists such as Rafaëlli and Monet, and with that of well-known predecessors and contemporaries such as John Martin, Munch, and Emil Nolde. The program then consists of other exhibitions both in Ostend, from the family exhibition at Fort Napoleon to the one devoted to Self-Portraits at the Ensorhuis (Ensor House), and in Antwerp. Here, not only the Royal Museum of Fine Arts but also the Fashion Museum, with an in-depth look at make-up and transformism today, the Museum of Photography and the Plantin-Moretus Museum will allow the public to retrace the eclectic and peculiar career, discovering its hidden secrets and offering contemporary readings of the master James Ensor.

Ensor has an unbreakable bond with Ostend, the city where he was born and lived, until his death. During his long life and artistic career, Ensor rarely left his hometown, which today celebrates him with the Ensor2024 program. A difficult and reclusive character, Ensor has, along his path, experienced ups and downs. His provocative style, critical of the society in which he lived, caused him, over the years, not a few problems. But for the father of Belgian symbolism, provoking and using his works as a vehicle for social criticism was always more important than receiving negative judgments.

Today a number of his works remain in Ostend, includingSelf-Portrait with Flowered Hat, which are kept at Mu.Zee, Ostend’s museum of Belgian and contemporary art. But it isin the Ensor House that his essence is still preserved. Open to the public, Ensor House transports visitors into the painter’s life. Five rooms, including an interactive center, are dedicated to the themes that made Ensor the eclectic artist we know today.

Image: James Ensor, Self-portrait with flowered hat © Mu.ZEE. Photo by Hugo Maertens

Flanders sets its sights on James Ensor, marking the 75th anniversary of his death

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