"...exemplary... gives the sharpest sense of Ensor’s evergreen originality and his singular vision of the world."
The Guardian
"Distrust, grandeur, decay, the shifting sands of meaning: this is a wonderful, unexpected show."
Financial Times
The theatrical, the satirical and the macabre come together in arresting fashion in the art of James Ensor. Curated by Luc Tuymans, this exhibition presents a truly original body of work, seen through the eyes of one of today’s leading painters.
Despite spending his whole professional life in the Belgian seaside town of Ostend, James Ensor was very successful in his lifetime and exerted considerable influence on the development of Expressionism. An innovator and an outsider, he rebelled against the conservative art teachings of the late 19th century academy in Brussels, drawn instead to the avant-garde salons where his radical creative vision could thrive.
Ensor’s childhood spent among the fantastical treasures of his family’s curiosity shop offers a clue as to how the seeds of this wild imagination were sown. The imagery of masks and carnivals runs through much of his work, from vibrant colours and flamboyant costumes to an ever-present sense of drama and satire.
We invited the artist Luc Tuymans, a fellow Belgian and admirer of Ensor, to curate this unique exhibition. Taking a personal view, Tuymans looks back at Ensor’s singular career through a selection of his most bizarrely brilliant and gloriously surreal creations.
Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts in association with the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp.
Saturday – Thursday 10am – 6pm
Friday 10am – 10pm
£11.50 (without donation £10). Concessions available. Friends of the RA and under 16s go free.
The Sackler Wing, Burlington House
2009-2017 Season supported by
Supported by
The intense light of the North Sea coast had a profound effect on the Belgian painter James Ensor, as did his hometown Ostend’s colourful carnival tradition, and the contents of his family’s curiosity shop. Step into Ensor’s world in this short video – narrated in his own words, derived from his letters and his poetic musings on art. Watch this video on YouTube.
James Ensor, The Intrigue, 1890.
James Ensor, Skeletons Fighting over a Pickled Herring, 1891.
James Ensor, From Laughter to Tears, 1908.
James Ensor, The Skate, 1892.
James Ensor, The Skeleton Painter, 1896.
James Ensor, The Dangerous Cooks, 1896.
James Ensor, Plague Here, Plague There, Plague Everywhere, 1888.
James Ensor, The Artist Surrounded by Evil Spirits, 1898.
James Ensor, Self-portrait with Flowered Hat, 1883.
Luc Tuymans, Untitled, 1976.
We have published this limited edition print to celebrate Luc Tuymans’s curation of Intrigue. As a lasting legacy of his involvement in the exhibition, Tuymans has generously made this work which has been printed in the historic RA Schools.
The starting point for Premonition was a characteristically unsettling drawing on lined paper by Tuymans of the same name. This drawing also features on the cover of Tuymans’ book of drawings published in 1997.
On the image, Tuymans has said - “what interested me here was the idea of the clown as a disguise, the nature of friendliness as something deceptive, and of dangerousness, which is connected to anonymity. The stereotype of the clown’s face is enhanced by the sunglasses”.
Exhibition tours
45-minute introductory tours, free with an exhibition ticket, no booking required.
Tuesdays 2.30pm and Fridays 7pm
(1 November 2016 – 20 January 2017)
From exhibition-inspired food and drink to free talks inside the shows, there are plenty of reasons to visit the RA after a busy week.
Three podcasts explore the work and life of James Ensor, with the RA’s Senior Curator, Adrian Locke, contemporary Belgian painter, Luc Tuymans, and conservator Herwig Todts offering a closer look at Ensor’s eclectic career.
In this extract from his new book, Timothy Hyman explores how the visionary Belgian painter remade figurative painting in his own macabre manner.
An anti-establishment artist with plenty to say, James Ensor’s scribblings are just as eccentric as his paintings. As an insight into his whimsical works, here’s a selection of Ensor’s inner musings – on art, critics and his naughty pug.
Take a look at some of the key works in ‘Intrigue: James Ensor by Luc Tuymans’ in these short videos.
Belgium’s leading contemporary painter, who curates the RA’s James Ensor exhibition, tells Sam Phillips why it is time to reassess Ensor’s art.
The Belgian artist James Ensor painted life through the lens of the carnival, creating unsettling and often satirical works. Michael Prodger searches for the man behind these intriguing images.
In 2016 the RA celebrates the life and work of James Ensor, whose macabre paintings of crowds and carnivals made him one of Belgium’s most prominent artists of the early twentieth century.
The Royal Academy’s Artistic Director explains what’s in store in for the next year as we launch our 2016 exhibition programme.