James Ensor and Symbolist Literature

Abstract

The art of James Ensor (1860–1949) is generally described as expressionistic, particularly when such well-known paintings as the 1887 Tribulations of St. Anthony (New York, Museum of Modern Art) and the 1888 Entry of Christ into Brussels (see Fig. 7) are considered. Yet Ensor also made a major contribution to the Symbolist movement. In a number of works inspired by his personal life, he investigated the implications of a reality that existed beneath the surface of banal experience. That he began these explorations in the early 1880s places him in the forefront of a developing Symbolist aesthetic.