1. Introduction to the exhibition
Welcome to the exhibition Rose, Rose, Rose à mes yeux. James Ensor and the still life in Belgium. This is the very first exhibition to focus on the still lifes by the Ostend artist James Ensor.
Before Ensor made still life his own, the genre had come a long way. In the 16th and 17th centuries, artists concentrated on everyday objects for the first time, albeit imbued with a moralising undertone. Those older paintings contain double meanings, vanitas motifs and hidden meanings. Extinguished candles and human skulls, for example, symbolise the transience of human life, while books and globes represent intellect.
In the early 19th century, the still life served a decorative purpose. Lavish scenes and floral arrangements adorned bourgeois interiors. The genre's popularity was fading and not held in particularly high regard. In fact, on academic courses and at exhibitions, still lifes were considered the lowest genre requiring the least invention and creativity. History pieces occupied the top of the artistic ladder: paintings depicting historical, religious or mythological stories. This was followed by portraits, then came paintings about everyday life. At the bottom, after landscapes, were still lifes.
Antoine Wiertz, a famous history painter, delivered a razor-sharp critique of still life. In 1840, Wiertz, who was to become Belgium's official painter, produced a painting of a banal carrot. In the process, he assumed the role of a fictional painter, after, he wrote, "only fifteen lessons in painting". When he exhibited the carrot at the Brussels Salon in 1842, a critic lambasted him: "Our time is too precious to engage in banal pranks like painting a carrot. Art is something sacred that artists should not dishonour with trivialities."
Nevertheless, in the nineteenth century, a number of painters tried to revive the still-life genre. Ensor was one of them. In total, he painted more than 200 still lifes, amounting to about a quarter of his oeuvre, and moulded the traditional still life to suit his purpose.
During your visit to this exhibition, you will be introduced to still lifes by Ensor and 34 of his forerunners, contemporaries and modernists. The artworks fit together like domino tiles, inviting an exercise in comparative viewing. This illustrates how Ensor's artistic career between 1880 and 1940 was truly exceptional, and how it evolved in a rich artistic environment.
You will arrive at the Ensor Room in just a moment. The exhibition starts with the decorative still life.
The entrance to this room is indicated with number 1.