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News and events

Welkom thuis! Ensorwerken uit de KBC-collectie

Welkom home! Works by James Ensor from the KBC collection.


KBC Bank owns a rich art collection in which the oeuvre of James Ensor occupies a prominent place. The temporary exhibition 'Welcome home!' at the James Ensor house puts the KBC Bank's Ensor collection in the spotlight until 29 August 2021. The collection comprises prints - etchings, drypoints and lithographs - as well as oil paintings and drawings such as an interesting self-portrait from 1883,...

Call for applications Postdoctoral research fellowship


Deadline 31 March 2021 The Périer-D'Ieteren Foundation grants its support to a European visiting researcher at a Belgian university, to carry out postdoctoral research in the fields of art history or conservation-restoration under the supervision of a member of the university's teaching staff. The grant will be awarded for a period of three to six months. The Foundation also offers selected...
Refurbished James Ensor House opens

Refurbished James Ensor House opens


Tuesday 14 July 2020 sees the official opening of the refurbished James Ensor House and brand-new interactive experience centre in Ostend. The refurbished James Ensor House will open on Tuesday 14 July 2020. The museum consists of James Ensor's original home and an interactive experience centre in the adjacent building. Five rooms each shine a spotlight on a specific theme: 'Introduction to Ensor...
Mathematician donates work by Ensor to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp

Mathematician donates work by Ensor to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp


Henry Crapo, a Canadian mathematician, has donated The Temptation of Saint Anthony by James Ensor to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He bought it in the early sixties in Boston. The painting is an exquisite acquisition for the Ensor collection of the museum. With 39 paintings and some 650 drawings to its name, the museum boasts not only the largest but also a very diverse Ensor...
Lydia Schoonbaert

In memoriam Dr. Lydia Schoonbaert, Chief Curator and Ensor expert


Dr. Lydia M.A. Schoonbaert passed away on 5 February 2019. She was Chief Curator of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp from 1984 to 1995. Lydia Schoonbaert studied art history at the Ghent University and wrote a master's thesis on the Medici cycle by Rubens for professor Roger-A. d'Hulst. Shortly after, in 1966, she gets to work as a scientific collaborator at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts...
book cover

New publication on Ensor’s artistic and social ideas and the interpretation of his art by Herwig Todts


This book by Herwig Todts explores James Ensor's artistic and social ideas and the interpretation of his art indepth through the analysis of his writings. In the course of the twentieth century, under the influence of the increasing success of Modernism, a misleading image of James Ensor emerged. One might even say that Ensor was confined within a modernist 'straitjacket'. In order to understand...
Marcel De Maeyer

Marcel De Maeyer 1920-2018


On October 7, 2018, Emeritus Professor Marcel De Maeyer (1920 Sint-Niklaas - 2018 Ghent) passed away. His value as an art historian, academic, pedagogue and artist is exceptional. Worldwide, Marcel De Maeyer is acknowledged for his Ensor research. As a curator of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, he also contributed significantly to the development of the Ensor collection at the...
The Rooftops of Ostend

Dreams of mother-of-pearl


The Ensor Collection of KMSKA in Ostend James Ensor is known worldwide. Museums, collectors and enthusiasts from all over the world are fascinated by his groundbreaking art. Long before the term became a fashionable cliché, Ensor was certainly a game changer. But all too often, the artworks themselves are overshadowed by the popular myth: that of a strange, misanthropic eccentric who sat behind...
2 new Online Publications

2 new Online Publications


Two new online publications reveal new insights concerning the oeuvre of James Ensor. Researcher Patrick Florizoone investigates the painting Ensor et Leman discutant peinture from 1890. It is a rare occasion that Ensor shows his true feelings so unrestrained. Before and after this, he shall never paint so personally and intimately again. In a second online publication researcher Xavier Tricot...
Deadline Summer Course extended

Deadline Summer Course extended


The application deadline for the Summer Course for the Study of the Arts in Flanders (Belgian Fin de Siècle edition) was extended until January 7, 2018. Several Flemish research centres, universities and art museums collaboratively organise the fourth edition of the Summer Course for the Study of the Arts in Flanders in the summer of 2018. This edition zooms in on Belgian Fin de Siècle Art...
Summer Course Belgian Fin de Siècle

Summer Course Belgian Fin de Siècle


Several Flemish research centres, universities and art museums collaboratively organise the fourth edition of the Summer Course for the Study of the Arts in Flanders in the summer of 2018. This edition zooms in on Belgian Fin de Siècle Art between 1880 and 1914. The target group are master and PhD-students in (art)history from all over the world. The aim of the Summer Course is to bring to...
NEMO’s 25th Annual Conference

NEMO’s 25th Annual Conference


NEMO's 25th Annual Conference: ‘Open Heart Surgery - The Value of Museum Collections' (9-12 November 2017/ Ghent, Belgium) Collections are at the heart of museums. As their core and basis, the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) wants to take an open look at how museums operate with their collections nowadays. How do museums make their heart beat, how is it connected to other organs...
New Online Publication: Ensor’s illustrations for Jean-François Marmontel’s La Neuvaine de Cythère

New Online Publication: Ensor’s illustrations for Jean-François Marmontel’s La Neuvaine de Cythère


At the exhibition dedicated to paintings, prints and drawings by James Ensor out of collections from Belgium and The Netherlands in the Centraal Museum in Utrecht (1993), nine erotic representations by Ensor were exhibited. The drawings were perhaps displayed for the public then for the first time. In a new online publication the Ensor expert Xavier Tricot points out that these drawings...
New Online Publication: The artist’s demons

New Online Publication: The artist’s demons


Ina Dinter is curator of the prints and drawings-section of the exhibition Hieronymus Bosch and his Pictorial World in the 16th and 17th Century (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin). She wrote a new online publication for James Ensor's Online Museum. To mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Jheronimus Bosch, and as the last of a number of some smaller and two major retrospectives, the...
New Online Publication: La Boutique de Grognelet, James Ensor as theatre-maker

New Online Publication: La Boutique de Grognelet, James Ensor as theatre-maker


Patrick Florizoone and Willem Coppejans highlight in a new online publication James Ensor's talents as theatre-maker. The talents of James Ensor were not limited to drawings, sketches and paintings. He was also an entertainer, writer, enthusiastic speaker, musician and composer. Many of these facets come together in La Gamme d'Amour, a performance piece for which he writes the screenplay,...
New Online Publication on an unknown Ensor

New Online Publication on an unknown Ensor


In a new online publication Ensor specialist Xavier Tricot discusses the unknown painting Squelette arrêtant masques (Skeleton Arresting Masqueraders). James Ensor painted it in 1891. The work is painted with oil paints on canvas and measures 33 by 55 cm. It is signed and dated on the lower left as: ENSOR/1891. The painting is mentioned in the list of works published in the monograph of Emile...
Exhibition 'Intrigue: James Ensor by Luc Tuymans'

Exhibition 'Intrigue: James Ensor by Luc Tuymans'


Curator Luc Tuymans brings Ensor to London for an exhibition in the Royal Academy of Arts. In Intrigue: James Ensor by Luc Tuymans, the contemporary Antwerp artist makes a selection from the subversive, theatrical, satirical and socially critical work of James Ensor (1860 - 1949). The title of the exhibition alludes to The Intrigue, one of Ensor's masterpieces from the collection of the Royal...
New Ensor for the MSK

New Ensor for the MSK


The collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent (MSK) is supplemented with an additional painting by James Ensor: Les Poissardes mélancoliques (The Melancholy Fishwives, 1892). The owner of the artwork, which was auctioned in 2015 at Sotheby's New York for a new record for the artist, is lending it to the MSK for at least two years. The painting is now displayed as part of the exhibition...
New Online Publication

New Online Publication


Patrick Florizoone and Willem Coppejans wrote the online publication James Ensor between avant-garde and tradition for the James Ensor Online Museum. The authors thoroughly analyse the obscure oil painting Confrontation (La critique sur mon oeuvre). The painting was signed by the artist, but not dated and belongs to a private collection. Confrontation holds a special place within Ensor's oeuvre...
New Ensors for the MSK

New Ensors for the MSK


The Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent (MSK) purchased two drawings by James Ensor: Christ mourned by the angels and Faire des Grimaces. They are an important addition to the collection of drawings that the museum houses. Ensor placed a lot of importance on the drawing. Between 1880 and 1895, his most creative period, he often used pencil and chalk and exhibited drawings as if being independent works...
Exhibition Two Masters of Ostend

Exhibition Two Masters of Ostend


In Two Masters of Ostend, Mu.ZEE, the Art Museum by the Sea, introduces a superb new collection featuring works by James Ensor and Léon Spilliaert (1851-1928) in its brand-new wing. Although Ensor and Spilliaert were very different artists, their names are often mentioned in the same breath. It is the city of Ostend that binds them. Ostend and James Ensor are inextricably linked. Ensor loved...
Programme & Registration Ensor Symposium

Programme & Registration Ensor Symposium


As the Ensor Research Project's (Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp) goal is to better understand all aspects of James Ensor's creative processes, a symposium is being organised that will present a mid-term state of affairs, evaluating the present state of technical and scientific findings along with current theoretical, stylistic, iconographical and historical investigations. In recent years,...
KMSKA purchases a rare drawing by Ensor

KMSKA purchases a rare drawing by Ensor


The Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (KMSKA) bought the rare drawing 'Fireplace utensils and masks' by James Ensor at a Brussels auction. It deals with one of the famous ‘hybrid' drawings of which only a dozen or so are known. They belong to his most innovative drawings. The KMSKA possesses the richest and most representative Ensor collection in the world. A drawing such as this one, sold at...
Exhibition 'Colour unleashed' in The Hague

Exhibition 'Colour unleashed' in The Hague


'Colour unleashed. Modern Art in the Low Countries 1885-1914' is a unique exhibition that has been made possible thanks partly to the current renovation of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, as a result of which some of the top items in its collection can now travel to other museums. The exhibition opens on October 3 at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. In the brief period between 1885 and...
Call for papers: Ensor's creative process: technique, concept, image

Call for papers: Ensor's creative process: technique, concept, image


Symposium:November 20, 2015University of Antwerp & Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (Belgium) In recent years, research on material and technical aspects of the visual arts and cultural heritage has made significant progress. Thanks to the optimization of existing research tools and the development of new imaging techniques, such as Macro X-Ray Fluorescence scanning , the quality of the...
Ina Dinter defends her PhD dissertation on James Ensor

Ina Dinter defends her PhD dissertation on James Ensor


On 10 June Ina Dinter defends her PhD dissertation, ‘Claire, Rose, Blanche - James Ensors Bildstrategien in Liebesgärten, Nyphenbildern und dem Spätwerk' at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany. The promotors are Prof. Dr. Michael F. Zimmermann (Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt) and Prof. Dr. Hubertus Kohle (Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität München). The defense...
The Printroom of the Groeninge Museum acquires the Van Hoorebeke collection

The Printroom of the Groeninge Museum acquires the Van Hoorebeke collection


In December 2014, the municipal council of Bruges approved the acquisition of the graphic collection of Bruges print dealer Guy van Hoorebeke. This collection consists of more than 1500 prints of exceptionally high quality, ranging from the early 16th century to the present. It contains rare early Netherlandish works by Lucas van Leyden, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Lambert Suavius, and works by...
Till-Holger Borchert and Hubert De Witte appointed as Co-Directors of Musea Brugge

Till-Holger Borchert and Hubert De Witte appointed as Co-Directors of Musea Brugge


Hubert De Witte (*1955 in Sinaai), the former Adjunct-Director alongside Manfred Sellink, is the new Business Director of Musea Brugge. He is an archeologist by training and began his career in Bruges in 1977 with the establishment of an archaeological position. One of the highlights (in 1979) was the discovery of the tomb and skeleton of Maria van Bourgondië. Until recently he was responsible...
Ensor in Chicago on loan from the KMSKA Antwerp and MSK Ghent

Ensor in Chicago on loan from the KMSKA Antwerp and MSK Ghent


The exhibition, named Temptation: The Demons of James Ensor, opens in the Art Institute of Chicago as of 23 November. From June through September, James Ensor (1860-1949) was the star of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles with The Scandalous Art of James Ensor. Now, the Ostend Master takes over Chicago. That the Art Institute of Chicago puts on a large Ensor exhibition is not all that...
Online publication ‘The religious oeuvre of James Ensor’

Online publication ‘The religious oeuvre of James Ensor’


The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) launched in 2013 the Ensor Research Project. The museum possesses the world's largest and most varied collection of works by James Ensor and strives to become the leading centre of expertise in art-historical and material technical research into the oeuvre of this Belgian artist. The findings of the Ensor Research Project are published on the...
Sellink new director KMSKA

Sellink new director KMSKA


On 16 October, Minister of Culture Sven Gatz announced that Manfred Sellink will succeed Paul Huvenne as the new General Director and Head Curator of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA). Sellink is currently General Director of Musea Brugge. The Dutchman Manfred Sellink (born 1962) was elected after an extensive recruitment procedure. Sellink holds a PhD in Art History (Vrije...
Online contributions KMSKA Ensor Research Project

Online contributions KMSKA Ensor Research Project


The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) launched the Ensor Research Project. The museum possesses the world's largest and most varied collection of works by James Ensor and strives to become the leading centre of expertise in art-historical and material technical research into the oeuvre of this Belgian artist. The material and technical research of the paintings of James Ensor is performed...
Exhibition 'The Scandalous Art of James Ensor'

Exhibition 'The Scandalous Art of James Ensor'


With 60 paintings and drawings from the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles will show in what context the magnum opus of Ensor, the Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889, originates. In the Getty, people have said about the painting that it is, "an avant-garde masterpiece, Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889, a shockingly satirical...
3 New online contributions Ensor Research Project

3 New online contributions Ensor Research Project


The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) launched an Ensor Research Project. The museum possesses the world's largest and most varied collection of work by James Ensor and strives to become the leading centre of expertise in art-historical and material technical research into the oeuvre of this Belgian artist. The material and technical research into the paintings of James Ensor is performed...
Exhibition 'L'Autre Ensor'

Exhibition 'L'Autre Ensor'


In the exhibition, L'autre Ensor (until 23 March), 52 lesser-known drawings of James Ensor are exhibited in the Grand Curtius museum in Liège. Nearly all of the drawings date back to the first five years of Ensor's career. They were bought from Ensor by the Brussels' art collector Henri Van Cutsem, probably during the course of the 1890's. Van Cutsem possessed paintings by Manet, Monet, Seurat...
New Online Publication

New Online Publication


Ensor expert, Xavier Tricot, has written a new online publication for the website James Ensor. An online museum. This is an initiative of the Flemish Art Collection. The Flemish Art Collection is the collaborative association of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp (KMSKA), the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent (MSK, Ghent) and the Groeninge Museum in Bruges. On 14 August 1896, an enormous fire...
New online contributions Ensor Research Project

New online contributions Ensor Research Project


The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) launched an Ensor Research Project. The museum possesses the world's largest and most varied collection of work by James Ensor and strives to become the leading centre of expertise in art-historical and material technical research into the oeuvre of this Belgian artist. The material and technical research into the paintings of James Ensor is performed...
Exhibition 'The Surprised Masks: James Ensor. From the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp and Swiss collections'

Exhibition 'The Surprised Masks: James Ensor. From the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp and Swiss collections'


James Ensor (1860-1949) was a visionary artist whose whimsical, fantastical, ironic, and occasionally aggressive oeuvre strongly influenced the art of the twentieth century. The extensive retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Basel is based on the holdings of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, which has the world's largest and most important collection of Ensor's works, complemented by important...

Willy Van den Bussche passed away


On 14 December, Willy Van den Bussche passed away at the age of 71. Van den Bussche died of complications from a heart attack in the U.S. capital of Washington D.C..He was there for the purpose of honouring the Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck (1925). Van den Bussche became Conservator of the West Flanders' provincial museums in 1967. In 1987, he took on role of Conservator for the Provincial...
Ensor in false colour

Ensor in false colour


The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) launched an Ensor Research Project. The museum possesses the world's largest and most varied collection of work by James Ensor and strives to become the leading centre of expertise in art-historical and material technical research into the oeuvre of this Belgian artist. The material and technical research into the paintings of James Ensor is performed...
Ensor colours the 'Salon der Angst' in Kunsthalle Wien

Ensor colours the 'Salon der Angst' in Kunsthalle Wien


Angst is a universal theme. The Viennese exhibition "Salon der Angst" not only illustrates general feelings of danger and menace, but also sheds light on the influence of culture on both individual as well as collective experiences of angst. Throughout the history of art there are numerous examples to be found of works that place angst, terror and despair at the centre, or of artists that make...
Presentation of Herwig Todts thesis ‘Ensor, occasional Modernist’ online

Presentation of Herwig Todts thesis ‘Ensor, occasional Modernist’ online


On 19 June 2013 Herwig Todts defended his thesis, ‘Ensor, occasional Modernist. An Investigation into James Ensor’s Artistic and Social Perspectives and the Interpretation of his Art’. On the basis of this dissertation Herwig Todts obtained the degree of Doctorate in the Art Sciences. The abstract that Herwig Todts presented as an introduction to his defense on 19 June is now also available to...
James Ensor in the Copenhagen Ordrupgaard museum

James Ensor in the Copenhagen Ordrupgaard museum


James Ensor. Master of the Mask On 6 September 2013, the Copenhagen Ordrupgaard museum opens the exhibition, "James Ensor. Master of the Mask". This premier monographic Ensor exhibition in Denmark runs until 19 January 2014. The exhibition sheds light on the underlying oppositions within the work of the Belgian artist. As such, James Ensor is not only seen as a keen observer of Nature, but he is...
Au Coeur Volant: Ensor and Einstein Meet

Au Coeur Volant: Ensor and Einstein Meet


On 2 August 1933, the restaurant Au Coeur Volant in De Haan served as the remarkable décor for a historic meeting between James Ensor and Albert Einstein. As a Jew and determined Pacifist, the Nobel Prize winner Einstein was fleeing the atrocity of the rise of Nazism in Germany and thus landed in the charming belle époque vacation resort of De Haan. Meanwhile, Ensor was enjoying his hard-earned...
James Ensor Painting and other works stolen from the Museum Van Buuren

James Ensor Painting and other works stolen from the Museum Van Buuren


On 15 July, thieves made away with Shrimps and Shells, a small panel by James Ensor from the collection of the Museum Van Buuren in Ukkel. (The panel has a value of 200.000 euro). In addition, other works of art were also stolen such as an artwork by the Dutch painter Kees van Dongen, with a replacement value of 1,2 million euro. Works by Brueghel II and Adriaen Brouwer were also lost in the...
‘Bonjour Ostende’ in the Venetiaanse Gaanderijen

‘Bonjour Ostende’ in the Venetiaanse Gaanderijen


Some names of cities incite dreams. Some places receive an extraordinary status attached to them by their fame. Ostend is just such a place. The city with its sea, beaches, harbours, promenade and architecture became a source of inspiration for many artists. Ostend is the subject of poetry, novels, stories, theatre pieces, films, operas and comic strips. Ostend was also, and primarily, painted,...
Exhibition 'Satire-Irony-Grotesque'

Exhibition 'Satire-Irony-Grotesque'


The exhibition ‘Satire-Irony-Grotesque. Daumier, Ensor, Feininger, Klee, Kubin' (7 June - 6 October) at the Paul Klee Zentrum in Bern (Switzerland) takes as its theme the significance of satirical commentary and the grotesque exaggerations in the work of Klee and his contemporaries at the turn of the 20th century. The exhibition begins with artists - such as Klee's friends Alfred Kubin and Lyonel...
Herwig Todts defends his PhD dissertation on James Ensor

Herwig Todts defends his PhD dissertation on James Ensor


On Wednesday 19 June Herwig Todts (Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp) will defend his PhD dissertation at the University of Ghent. His dissertation is entitled: 'James Ensor, occasioneel modernist. Een onderzoek naar James Ensors artistieke en maatschappelijke opvattingen en de interpretatie van zijn kunst.' Promotors are prof. Marjan Sterckx and co-promotor em.-prof. Claire Van Damme. The...
Images VKC on ARTstor

Images VKC on ARTstor


Since 24 May, Lukas-Art in Flanders is collaborating with ARTstor to share worldwide more than 4400 images from more than 30 important Flemish collections. ARTstor is a digital library for non-profit research. The collections from the three partner museums of the Flemish Art Collection (VKC)-the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), the Groeninge Museum in Bruges and the Museum of Fine Arts...
Private Ensor Collection Purchased

Private Ensor Collection Purchased


On 9 March the Ensor Collection of the late private collector Mark Van Dijck was purchased by an antiquarian bookshop in Bruges. At the book auction, 166 lots were offered from the exceptional Ensor collection of the late Mark Van Dijck from Antwerp. This collection consisted of books, catalogs, original graphics, letters, posters and photographs, in addition to one painting from the period 1915-...
Mu.ZEE Acquires "Les Masques et la Mort" by James Ensor.

Mu.ZEE Acquires "Les Masques et la Mort" by James Ensor.


The Ostend museum Mu.ZEE under the guidance of Director-Conservator Phillip Van den Bossche has purchased James Ensor's work, Les Masques et la Mort. The work of art, a gouache, chalk and pastel on paper, was heretofore in a private collection. The previous owner thought it important that after such a sale, the work of art would be assimilated into the public sphere in an accessible museum...
Expo: Ensor’s messenger: August van Yper

Expo: Ensor’s messenger: August van Yper


From 1 December August van Yper will be our guest at the Ensor House (Ostend), where he will unveil his exceptional story. August Van Yper, otherwise known as Guustje, was for years James Ensor's trusty manservant. In 1915, he entered Ensor's service along with his lifetime companion Ernestine Mollet. After Ensor's death in 1949,they were allowed to go on living in his house in the...
New web publication Ensor

New web publication Ensor


Ensor expert, Xavier Tricot, has written a new web publication for the website James Ensor: An online museum, an initiative of the Flemish Art Collection. The Flemish Art Collection is the collaborative association of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp (KMSKA), the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent (MSK, Ghent) and the Groeninge Museum in Bruges. Tricot investigates the influence of the Old Masters...
Geert Van der Snickt defends his PhD dissertation on James Ensor’s pigments

Geert Van der Snickt defends his PhD dissertation on James Ensor’s pigments


On Wednesday 27 June Geert Van der Snickt will defend his PhD dissertation at the University of Antwerp. His dissertation is entitled: James Ensor's pigments studied by means of portable and synchrotron radiation-based X-ray techniques: evolution, context and degradation. Please confirm your presence before 19 June if you would like to attend the defense. Please find enclosed the invitation to...
"Ensor in context" at 5 venues in Japan

"Ensor in context" at 5 venues in Japan


The Ensor collection of KMSKA will reside in Japan from 14 April to 17 March 2013. The travelling exhibition Ensor in Context will call at five venues: Toyota Art Museum, Ehime Art Museum, Togo Seji Memorial Museum, Iwate Art Museum and Okayama Art Museum. The package for this show consists of 73 paintings and 59 drawings and engravings from the KMSKA collection. The exhibition does not focus on...
Robert Hoozee Deceased

Robert Hoozee Deceased


It is with great sorrow that the Direction Committee, the Board of Directors and the general assembly of the Flemish Art Collection inform you of the death of Robert Hoozee (1949), the museum director of the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent, and member of the direction committee and Board of Directors of the Flemish Art Collection. Per way of notification, the Flemish Art Collection shares the message...
Traveling Art Ensor

Traveling Art Ensor


It often occurs that works of art, or entire museum collections, which are in a good state of condition, travel elsewhere to enhance a temporary exhibition. As a consequence of the temporary closing of the Royal Museum for Fine Arts in Antwerp, due to the far-reaching renovation plans, a portion of the collections are spread out over the country. Iconic works of exemplary partial collections...
KMSKA buys new works of Ensor

KMSKA buys new works of Ensor


Is Ensor's artistic production dating after 1893 truly of a lesser value than earlier work? Quite a few experts appear to think so, but not everyone holds this opinion. One could also say that Ensor's later work is not properly studied. The KMSKA purchased Scènes de la vie du Christ (an album with 32 lithographs from after 1900) and can in this way do something about the lacuna in Ensor research...
Ensor and de Bruycker in Tallinn

Ensor and de Bruycker in Tallinn


The KUMU Art Museum, a museum for modern art, opened its doors in 2006 in the Kardriorg Park in Tallinn (Estonia). The KUMU is now presenting the exhibition: Double Portrait. Flemish Symbolists James Ensor and Jules de Bruycker. Jules de Bruycker (1870-1945) was born in Ghent and is a lesser known name. His works were from the highest technical level. He was very keen on drawing and printmaking....
Drawing by James Ensor missing

Drawing by James Ensor missing


Since Friday, June 10, a drawing of the Belgian painter James Ensor is missing from the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague.It is a work on paper titled The Triumph of Death. The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp did loan this work to the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague for the exhibition James Ensor, Universe of a dreamer, which ran from March 12 until June 13.The disappearance is under...
Spectacular purchase amount for Ensor

Spectacular purchase amount for Ensor


On 17 May, two works by James Ensor were sold at Sotheby's in Amsterdam at an auction with modern and contemporary artists. Both brought in significantly more than the appraised auction price. Ensor's Les Musiciens (The Musicians) from 1892 went under the hammer for 132.750 euro.  The lowest bidding price began at an amount of 12.000 euro. The remarkable purchase price is more than ten-fold...
Flemish Government Purchases Les bains à Ostende (The Baths of Ostend)

Flemish Government Purchases Les bains à Ostende (The Baths of Ostend)


The Flemish Community announces the purchase of one of James Ensor's top works, Les bains à Ostende (The Baths of Ostend). Up until now, the 1890 work was part of a private collection. 'This was an opportunity to keep a top work of the Ostend master within Flanders and to supplement the 'Flemish Collection'', said Flemish Minister of Culture, Joke Schauvliege. Since 26 April 2007, The...
Ensor in The Hague

Ensor in The Hague


Alhough now that the Ensor Year is behind us, the Ostend painter remains prominently on the scene. After major exhibitions in the MoMA in New York, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the ING Cultural Centre in Brussels, another significant exhibition of the Belgian artist now comes to Holland. From 12 March until 13 June, the ‘Universe of a Dreamer' expo can be seen in the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag....
Challenges for the Conservation Teams: Ensor’s Yellow turns Brown …

Challenges for the Conservation Teams: Ensor’s Yellow turns Brown …


On Monday, 14 February, the scientific publication ‘Analytical Science' released an article on the chemical colouration of paint on paintings. Under the direction of Koen Janssens (University of Antwerp), a team of scientists is engaged in examining a number of complex chemical reactions in this respect. The scientists strongly propose that one of the yellow colours that James Ensor used in his...
International colloquium James Ensor

International colloquium James Ensor


Thursday 24th February 2011 Organised by the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent and the Flemish Art Collection in collaboration with S.M.A.K. and FARO The exhibition Hareng Saur: Ensor and Contemporary Art is the final part of a series of recent events and exhibitions that have taken place to mark the 150th anniversary of James Ensor’s birth (1860) and the 60th anniversary of the artists death (1949...
Hareng Saur: Ensor and Contemporary Art

Hareng Saur: Ensor and Contemporary Art


It is generally acknowleged that James Ensor was one of the key figures and pioneers of Modern Art. During his lifetime, his residence in Ostend was a meeting place for artists and intellectuals. The Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK Ghent) and the S.M.A.K. join together to examine the relationship between the visionary art of James Ensor and the artistic praxis of a series of contemporary artists...
Ensor Unmasked

Ensor Unmasked


'Prince of painters,‘ forerunner of Surrealism, yet more kindred to Brueghel and Goya: 2010 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of James Ensor. This is an ideal occasion for ING, in co-production with the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) and the Centre for Fine Arts—BOZAR to get to the core of the life of the prolific artist. Ensor was not only a creative genius, but also a troubled...
The Seven Deadly Sins

The Seven Deadly Sins


As of 17 September, James Ensor is highlighted at the Ensor House with his The Seven Deadly Sins. In 1904, James Ensor published an album with seven prints entitled Les péchés capitaux (The Deadly Sins), preceded with a frontispiece with the image of a winged skeleton that dominates over the Deadly Sins. The eight etchings are now exhibited in combination with work from other artists who have...
Ensor, Composer and Writer

Ensor, Composer and Writer


Complementary to the Ensor exhibition in the ING Cultural Centre, the Centre for Fine Arts—BOZAR displays an other facet of the artist in the hallways round the Henry Le Boeuf concert hall with Ensor, Composer and Writer. It is an extraordinary collection of manuscripts, publications, documents and photographs illustrating the richness and colourful versatility of the artist. Date: 7 October 2010...
Antwerp, Brown Marchionesses and Blonde Maiden

Antwerp, Brown Marchionesses and Blonde Maiden


Although James Ensor is primarily linked to his birthplace of Ostend, he also had a fondness for Brussels, and Antwerp played an important role in his life as well. One of Ensor‘s patrons was the Antwerp industrialist François Franck. Franck was also a co-founder of the association for expressive artists and art patrons, L’Art contemporain. KBC Bank Belgium has purchased the nearly complete...
Ensor Year Produces Two Ensor Films

Ensor Year Produces Two Ensor Films


For the inauguration of the Ensor Year 2010, not only were there various exhibitions organized and new publications, but also two documentaries were produced. The production firm ABACARIS Films released Les Ensortilèges de James Ensor by Nora Philippe and Arnaud De Mezamat. The première took place in the ING building in Brussels with the introduction of the opening of the exhibition, Ensor...
The Beauty of the Grotesque: James Ensor in Madrid

The Beauty of the Grotesque: James Ensor in Madrid


As an introduction to the 150th anniversary of James Ensor‘s birth and from the European chair position of Belgium in 2010, the Carlos de Amberes Foundation is exhibiting its entire collection of Ensor etchings and a selection of paintings. The etchings come from the private collection of Frank Deceuninck. The paintings are on loan from, among others, the Museum of Fine Arts, Bilbao and the...
Djinn Saout Pays Tribute to Ensor

Djinn Saout Pays Tribute to Ensor


The Belgian, French-language rock band, Djinn Saout, composed a tribute to the oeuvre of James Ensor, baron of the masquerade. The group is inspired by a number of well-known works by the artist. Their tight guitar sound, hammering drums and raw vocals seamlessly connect to the themes and the techniques that Ensor made his own: the city of Ostend and the Rue de Flandre/Vlaanderenstraat, skeletons...