“I think I am an exceptional painter”

Herwig Todts: “An expressionist, in his search for essence, amplifies the emotion he wants to depict. Think of Munch’s The Scream. It’s a kind of primal cry, including the distortion of figures to intensify the emotion. Ensor stays much closer to reality. He does, however, exploit the expressive facial features of masks to make his point. For example, he places the mask of a demonic character from Japanese Nō theatre over the deeply sorrowful face of a scourged Christ from the KMSKA collection. The result is a powerful image of an enraged Jesus crying out in rebellion at what has been done to him: Man of Sorrows. Real expressionists found such a work fantastic. In Ensor, they saw the direction they themselves wanted to go — only not with masks, but with the ordinary human face.”

Herwig Todts: “Bright colours and plays of light painted directly onto the canvas without an underlayer or other intermediate layers — that, in a nutshell, defines impressionism. French impressionism began with the work of Manet. Belgium wanted a similar starting point. Ensor’s The Oyster Eater was proclaimed the first Belgian impressionist painting. Except, Ensor only knew the style from the newspapers. With the light effects in his cosy scene, he did manage to capture an ‘impression’, that much is true. But technically, Ensor continued to build on what he had learned at school, using a (beige) underpainting, as tradition prescribed. Later, Ensor would indeed use impressionist techniques — without shadows or intermediate tones, on a white ground — as in Masquerade. But there, imagination takes the lead in terms of content. So even that is not pure impressionism.”

Herwig Todts: “A realist in the sense that he painted what he saw, what was in front of him — including his well‑known masks. And then he pushed it all the way, exploring the edges. Some artists perfect themselves in a limited number of subjects, searching for the ultimate depiction of that one mountain, like Cézanne. They choose a specific terrain. Ensor didn’t. He wanted to excel in everything. He worked on a subject as a kind of project, experimenting with a technique or style. Once he had achieved what he envisioned — after six or ten years — he ended that ‘project’. Despite all this, he never completely abandoned realism, the faithful rendering of nature.”

Herwig Todts: “Not every style suited him equally well. The subtly enigmatic nature of symbolism, for example. Ensor didn’t go for subtlety. Though he did try, as in View of Phnosia. The result remained too real to evoke a mysterious atmosphere. He didn’t make many works of that kind. He preferred wilder things.”

Herwig Todts: “A fumist, perhaps — a 19th‑century word for a joker. In the context of modern art, it refers to someone who doesn’t take existing traditions seriously. The works of the impressionists looked unfinished, so critics called them ‘fumistic’. Ensor sought provocation, ridicule. Combined with his pessimistic worldview, this results in a work like The Intrigue. It shows his vision of humanity. He mocks people — they are stupid, foolish, or malicious. The masks reveal what people are truly like.