Azaleas

The painting depicts objects placed on a marble table top. These comprise a small sculpture of a female nude viewed from the rear, three houseplants with the azalea in the middle and an alocasia to its right, and a large shell at the foot of a basket containing the azalea. There are two additional shells on the far right. The basket containing the azalea is sitting on a white plate on a yellow table runner patterned with orange flowers and green leaves. The terracotta pot containing the tall alocasia plant sits on a white bowl plate. The artist’s Virgin of Consolation is reproduced at the top left-hand corner. This painting-within-a-painting is shown without a frame but is ornamented with a blue flower. Several masks are shown in profile on the right-hand side of the painting. The background is painted in shades of mother-of-pearl.

Azaleas were grown in Belgium from the early 19th century and their cultivation in the Ghent region began around 1825. They became a major Belgian export product. Azaleas flower between April and June, depending on their variety. In the Ghent area, azaleas were typically sold in baskets. The baskets seem to have been appreciated for their rustic appearance and may also have provided good drainage and air circulation around the roots. Plants from South America, Asia and Africa had been imported into Europe since the 16th century as a consequence of voyages of discovery and colonisation.¹

Over the course of 60 years, Ensor painted more than 230 still lifes, amounting to a third of his painted oeuvre. With the exception of a short break around 1885/88, Ensor painted at least one still life a year. He considered the still life the most important genre and the touchstone of the true colourist.²

From 1913 onwards, Ensor included the small nude sculpture of Venus after her bath in some of his still lifes. He incorrectly referred to all porcelain figurines of this type as Tanagra, for a reason we do not know. From 1889 onwards, he occasionally experimented with staging his still lifes as narratives with some kind of interaction seeming to take place between the various objects and the masks looming at the rear or to the sides of his compositions. At the same time, he made his backgrounds colouristically appealing. He often chose a mother-of-pearl effect. On several occasions in the 1920s and 30s, Ensor included a painting-within-a-painting by depicting one of his own works in the background of a composition, but he had already experimented with citing his own work much earlier in My Favourite Room of 1892 and the Skeleton Painter of 1896. On this occasion, he chose his 1891 Virgin of Consolation. The juxtaposition of a depiction of the Virgin Mary and a sculpture of the nude Venus may have amused him. He certainly included similar touches of humour in other still lifes. In any case, the picture is dominated by the pink of the flowers. The same pink can be found in the floor upon which he kneels in his copy of the Virgin of Consolation.

From 1882, Ensor often painted still lifes with flowers, but this was the only time he depicted azaleas. In the years 1920-30, Ensor opted on several occasions to show the table top and the objects upon it frontally, keeping the illusion of space to a minimum. For reasons that remain unclear, this painting has been dated circa 1926; it is not possible to date it more accurately on the basis of its composition, design or colour choices.

The Antwerp diamond dealer and Zionist, Oscar Fischer (1875-1947), donated the work to the KMSKA in 1937 before moving to Tel Aviv. He also donated My Favourite Room of 1892 and a nature study from Ensor’s youth to the Art Museum in Tel Aviv. Fischer also owned work by Maurice De Vlaminck, Marc Chagall, Maurice Utrillo and Paul Signac.³ This still life was personally chosen by head curator Arthur Cornette during a visit to Fischer. I chose that wonderful pink symphony, noted Cornette on 27 August 1937.⁴

Xavier Tricot, James Ensor Life and Work. Oeuvrecatalogue of the paintings, Brussels Mercatorfonds and Antwerp Pandora Publishers, 2009, nr. 557.
Herwig Todts, James Ensor, Occasional Modernist. Ensor's Artistic and Social Ideas and the Interpretation of his Art, (XIX: Studies in19th-Century Art and Visual Culture), Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2019, p. 288 ff.
Bart Verschaffel, Sabine Taevernier, Rose, rose à mes yeux. James Ensor and Still Life in Belgium (1830-1930), Brussels : Mercatorfonds, 2023.

The painting depicts objects placed on a marble table top. These comprise a small sculpture of a female nude viewed from the rear, three houseplants with the azalea in the middle and an alocasia to its right, and a large shell at the foot of a basket containing the azalea. There are two additional shells on the far right. The basket containing the azalea is sitting on a white plate on a yellow table runner patterned with orange flowers and green leaves. The terracotta pot containing the tall alocasia plant sits on a white bowl plate. The artist’s Virgin of Consolation is reproduced at the top left-hand corner. This painting-within-a-painting is shown without a frame but is ornamented with a blue flower. Several masks are shown in profile on the right-hand side of the painting. The background is painted in shades of mother-of-pearl.

Azaleas were grown in Belgium from the early 19th century and their cultivation in the Ghent region began around 1825. They became a major Belgian export product. Azaleas flower between April and June, depending on their variety. In the Ghent area, azaleas were typically sold in baskets. The baskets seem to have been appreciated for their rustic appearance and may also have provided good drainage and air circulation around the roots. Plants from South America, Asia and Africa had been imported into Europe since the 16th century as a consequence of voyages of discovery and colonisation.¹

Over the course of 60 years, Ensor painted more than 230 still lifes, amounting to a third of his painted oeuvre. With the exception of a short break around 1885/88, Ensor painted at least one still life a year. He considered the still life the most important genre and the touchstone of the true colourist.²

From 1913 onwards, Ensor included the small nude sculpture of Venus after her bath in some of his still lifes. He incorrectly referred to all porcelain figurines of this type as Tanagra, for a reason we do not know. From 1889 onwards, he occasionally experimented with staging his still lifes as narratives with some kind of interaction seeming to take place between the various objects and the masks looming at the rear or to the sides of his compositions. At the same time, he made his backgrounds colouristically appealing. He often chose a mother-of-pearl effect. On several occasions in the 1920s and 30s, Ensor included a painting-within-a-painting by depicting one of his own works in the background of a composition, but he had already experimented with citing his own work much earlier in My Favourite Room of 1892 and the Skeleton Painter of 1896. On this occasion, he chose his 1891 Virgin of Consolation. The juxtaposition of a depiction of the Virgin Mary and a sculpture of the nude Venus may have amused him. He certainly included similar touches of humour in other still lifes. In any case, the picture is dominated by the pink of the flowers. The same pink can be found in the floor upon which he kneels in his copy of the Virgin of Consolation.

From 1882, Ensor often painted still lifes with flowers, but this was the only time he depicted azaleas. In the years 1920-30, Ensor opted on several occasions to show the table top and the objects upon it frontally, keeping the illusion of space to a minimum. For reasons that remain unclear, this painting has been dated circa 1926; it is not possible to date it more accurately on the basis of its composition, design or colour choices.

The Antwerp diamond dealer and Zionist, Oscar Fischer (1875-1947), donated the work to the KMSKA in 1937 before moving to Tel Aviv. He also donated My Favourite Room of 1892 and a nature study from Ensor’s youth to the Art Museum in Tel Aviv. Fischer also owned work by Maurice De Vlaminck, Marc Chagall, Maurice Utrillo and Paul Signac.³ This still life was personally chosen by head curator Arthur Cornette during a visit to Fischer. I chose that wonderful pink symphony, noted Cornette on 27 August 1937.⁴

Xavier Tricot, James Ensor Life and Work. Oeuvrecatalogue of the paintings, Brussels Mercatorfonds and Antwerp Pandora Publishers, 2009, nr. 557.
Herwig Todts, James Ensor, Occasional Modernist. Ensor's Artistic and Social Ideas and the Interpretation of his Art, (XIX: Studies in19th-Century Art and Visual Culture), Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2019, p. 288 ff.
Bart Verschaffel, Sabine Taevernier, Rose, rose à mes yeux. James Ensor and Still Life in Belgium (1830-1930), Brussels : Mercatorfonds, 2023.

Azaleas is painted in oil paint on a commercially woven, even-weave canvas. The canvas was lined with a mixture of beeswax, dammar resin and alum (elemi) in 1996, leaving excess wax-resin mixture on its back. The canvas has 12 horizontal and 10 vertical threads per cm2. The canvas is nailed to a pine stretcher and still retains a few of its original stretcher keys. Various labels referring to exhibitions are attached to the batten down the middle of the stretcher.

There is a whitish-yellow ground layer present over which Ensor painted a thin, white, streaky paint layer. PXRF measurements indicate the presence of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and small amounts of calcium (Ca) and iron (Fe). The presence of iron probably indicates the use of an earth pigment in the ground layer; this would account for its yellowish colour.

There is a partial underdrawing present, visible on the infrared image. It is drawn in pencil and either charcoal or black chalk. The latter medium is dry and grainy and mixed into the paint during painting which caused the work to have a mottled look in some areas. The sketch remains visible through the thin paint layers.

Ensor painted a small version of his 1892 The Virgin of Consolation in the top left-hand corner of the work. He sketched in its design with blue and red lines. He then coloured in this sketch with paint without allowing the paint areas to touch. As a result, the sketch remains visible and the ground layer plays a deliberate role in the work. He sometimes used his paint so thin and dilute that it formed drips in some areas, but elsewhere he applied it more thickly. He used fine brushes, some with stiff bristles and others with soft ones, and mixed his paint on the painting itself. In some areas he scraped off paint with the back of his brush and possibly a palette knife too.
While sketching the composition, Ensor made stains with a dilute, dark paint. These are visible through the thin paint layers. These were partially retouched with grey paint, visible on the UV image.
The pigments Ensor used are zinc white, one or more red lakes, a little vermillion, cobalt blue and probably synthetic ultramarine, cadmium yellow, either Emerald or Scheele’s green, chrome green or viridian green and an earth pigment.

In 1996, the work was given a layer of paraloid (B72) varnish.
The painting reacts strongly to fluctuations in relative humidity and has therefore been placed under a ban from loans and transport.

The work is painted on a commercially woven, even-weave canvas.
The canvas was lined in 1996 by Jan Bender with a mixture of beeswax, dammar resin and alum (elemi). As a result, the back of the canvas cannot be studied as the original canvas is no longer visible to the naked eye. However, we can count the threads on the front in those areas where the artist left the ground layer unpainted: 12 horizontal threads to 10 vertical threads per cm2.

The stretcher is made of pine wood with bevelled bars and a batten down its middle. There are 10 stretcher keys. Those along the batten and at lower right are original. The remaining stretcher keys have been replaced, probably during a restoration.
Various labels referring to exhibitions are attached to the central batten.
The canvas has been nailed to the sides of the stretcher. The canvas is taut on its stretcher as a consequence of being lined.

At the time of lining, the tacking margins were secured to the stretcher with brown paper. The stretcher keys were also secured with brown paper and possibly a cellulose adhesive. This is a standard museum procedure to prevent the stretcher keys from falling between the canvas and the stretcher. Therefore, it cannot be dated with any certainty. A lot of leftover wax-resin mixture is visible on the back of the lined canvas, which is an indication that too much of the mixture was used during the lining process.

Although the canvas is currently taut on its stretcher, in 2002, upon its return from an exhibition in Bologna to which it had been loaned, this support was observed to have warped. The canvas was sagging and bulging. After three weeks in a stable climate, the canvas was once again taut, and possibly too taut. This indicates that the canvas, notwithstanding its wax-resin lining, is highly reactive to fluctuations in relative humidity. (condition report 06/03/02)
Partly because of this reactivity, the work has not been loaned in recent years.

The canvas has an even ground layer which was most probably commercially applied. It is whitish-yellow in colour and shows through the paint layer in many places.
The artist mostly left this ground layer unpainted at the edges. He applied an even white paint layer over the ground. Similar layers can be found on other works by the same artist, covering either the entire surface or just parts of it, e.g. Skeletons Fighting over the Body of a Hanged Man (1891, inv. 1857, KMSKA), Still Life with Chinoiseries (1906, inv. 1959, KMSKA), Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise (1887, inv. 2072, KMSKA), Christ’s Entry into Brussels in 1889 (1888, inv. 87.PA.96, Getty Center). PXRF measurements indicate the presence of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and small amounts of calcium (Ca) and iron (Fe) at every spot where measurements were taken. The presence of iron probably indicates the use of an earth pigment in the ground layer, accounting for its yellowish colour.

Under UV light, the boundary between the original ground layer and the subsequently added white paint layer is clear, with the original visible to the right of the white dotted line.

The streaky character of the white paint layer which Ensor applied on the ground layer is clearly visible through a lacunae in the background (blue arrow). The brushstrokes run in the opposite direction to the green paint stroke on top of them (red arrow). In two places, there are lacunae as deep as the original ground layer (areas circled in black). These show up very clearly under UV light.
As well as being streaky, this layer was also applied very dilute, which allowed the warmer colour of the ground to show through.

A streaky paint layer is visible on the x-ray. It was thinly applied with a stiff brush in a variety of directions. This may be the white layer that Ensor applied over the whitish-yellow ground. This white layer probably contains lead, as it shows up on the x-ray and because all the PXRF measurements indicate the presence of lead.¹

Furthermore, palette knife strokes can also be seen on the x-ray which have nothing to do with the depiction of the azaleas. These are not visible in raking light either. These paint marks are either located beneath the paint/ground layers of Azaleas or there are palette knife marks present on the back of the canvas. This cannot be verified, as the work has been lined so that the original canvas can no longer be seen.

Ensor used various techniques when developing the underdrawing for this work. In several places, we can see a clear underdrawing in a dry medium, probably pencil. For example, this is the case of the two masks/faces at the top right corner. It is also clear that the demarcation of the scene at the top left corner is drawn with a pencil and ruler. The artist did not subsequently cover these lines entirely with paint, so they remain visible in the end result.
Pencil lines can also be seen in the legs of the statue at the far-left front.

In addition to these fine pencil lines, traces of a coarser-grained, dry material, possibly charcoal or some type of black chalk are present; these are clearly visible on the infrared image. These lines are smudged, which is typical for a medium of this sort, whose grainy texture is quickly spread or partly removed by the application of overlying paint layers. These lines are visible in the central part of the composition, especially in the two flower baskets and in the flowers suspended to the right of the painting within the painting.

Furthermore, grains of black pigment can be seen in various places in the paint layer, giving the work a somewhat blotchy look. This is probably the result of charcoal grains migrating across the surface of the painting and settling in the wet paint.

There are several clearly marked pencil lines in the lower part of the painting, which were previously mistakenly interpreted as signs of vandalism (after the exhibition Ensor Unmasked in 2011), but are indeed from the artist’s hand. Similar pencil marks are present near the signature as well. These lines run partly above and partly beneath the paint layers. For example, this is the case in the detail of the tablecloth – the line runs over the yellow paint of the tablecloth but is partly covered by the green paint of the leaf. Some of the lines are not covered by paint. It is unclear what the artist’s intention was here, but he did not feel a need to paint them away.

Azaleas is painted with oil on canvas where a range of techniques were combined during painting.

Ensor used red and blue painted lines when developing his design for the small scene at top left (the painting within the painting). These lines are grainy in texture which suggests that the paint was applied quite dry. The sketchy blue lines of the head in the self-portrait have remained fully visible in the end result. Under magnification we can see that these lines have partly intermixed with the white paint layer below. This latter layer must therefore have still been wet at the time the figures were added.

The face of the Madonna is developed in a similar manner in red paint. Here, the painted lines were partly obscured beneath the subsequently applied paint. Ensor chose not to fill in the various coloured areas completely, as can be seen in the face and its outline, as well as in the Virgin’s clothes and in other parts of the painting. In many places, the coloured areas do not touch allowing the underlying tone of the ground layer to play a role in the painting. This would have allowed Ensor to work quickly. The lower half of the easel on which the painting of the virgin is displayed is left entirely unpainted. Therefore the whitish-yellow ground and the thin white imprimatura serve as the colour of the easel.
The artist used a fine, hard-bristled brush to fill in the area of The virgin of Consolation with coarse brushstrokes going in all directions. For the highlights, he used thicker paint applied with a similar brush. For the details of the face he used a finer, soft-bristled brush applying the paint more dilute.

By choosing to apply his paint in various ways, Ensor created a subtle play on textures to convey the material qualities of the objects he was painting. It is in the execution of the plants that we encounter the greatest variety in textures.

The flowers of the azalea were painted rapidly with a coarse brush, causing a streaky effect. Ensor worked predominantly with a red lake, mixing it directly on the canvas with white paint to create a lighter shade. The red lake is also combined with a darker colour for shadowed areas, applying these on top of the red tone he had already applied. He also built up the green leaf of the plant from a ground tone, adding white for highlighted areas, and intermixed with darker tones for the shadows. He added the outline of the leaves with rapid, dark green strokes and added yellow-toned accents here and there.

In contrast to the leaves, the flowers are painted with thicker paint. The marks left by the hard bristles are very noticeable.

The paint has an unusual, waxy texture with a distinctive pattern of craquelure. The adhesion between this paint layer and the underlying paint and ground layers appears problematic. Under magnification, a granular structure is visible in the largest cracks of the paint layer. This is evidence of material loss.

Ensor used dilute paint for the leaves of the plant at the right of the painting. In some areas, his technique was closer to watercolour than to oil paint. Examples include brushstrokes that end in drips. He added a few highlights in thicker paint on top of this diluted paint.

Ensor also used dilute paint for the wicker baskets. His brushstrokes were streaky with quick strokes added on top of the horizonal basketwork. He employed a very different technique for the porcelain statue left of the basket. Here, he overlaid his paint strokes quickly, piling up the paint until it was quite thick. He blended his colours together on the canvas rather than on his palette. For the shadow by the statue’s leg, Ensor used the back of his brush to scrape away some of the wet paint. Similar scraped paint can also be found here and there in the pink azalea flowers, but to a lesser extent.

In the scene at top left, Ensor scraped paint away for figurative purposes. For example, he used the back of his paintbrush to scratch flowers into the green background and seems to have used a palette knife to scrape paint away for the flower with the pink centre.

The background was created around the already painted flowers and plants. As seen elsewhere in Ensor’s work, the brushstrokes of the background are applied diagonally, in this case from top right to bottom left. Ensor used shades of blue, white, pink and green, running a vertical paint stroke through them in some places. Ensor may have wanted to create a mother-of-pearl effect, like the inside of a shell.
He also played with texture by dragging and dabbing a hard-bristled brush in nearly dry paint. We can see this, for example, in the flowerpot, where he created the appearance of a rough surface.

Under UV light, pronounced drips or stains can be observed in the left-hand azalea. These black stains are visible to the naked eye, mostly in the dark red of the flowers and are inherent to Ensor’s technique, belonging to the design stage of the painting. The artist worked with dilute paint causing drips on the surface. These drips are found beneath the actual paint layer, but the transparency of the upper paint means they remain visible.

In various places, grey-brown paint strokes have been applied on top of these black drips. Although these look like retouches on the UV image, they appear to be original paint strokes applied by the artist to locally camouflage the black drips. The fact they are so visible under UV light suggests that Ensor did not add these strokes immediately after completing the painting. The painting was donated to the museum in 1937 by Oscar Fischer. In 1944, it was photographically documented by the KIK.² These apparent retouches are already visible on that photo. Therefore, as the work was only restored in 1996, these retouches must pre-date 1937.

It is one of the rare paintings in the collection where drips caused by the artist’s technique have been covered over.

In the small scene at top left a lot of white globules are present in the paint layer. A similar phenomenon has been observed in other works in the collection. It is unclear whether this is simply the texture of the paint layer or whether it is a sign of some sort of degradation process. The globules might be metal soaps.

At lower right in red paint and partly in pencil, Ensor.

The descriptions below are based on measurements taken with PXRF on 25 different points on the painting by Dr. Geert Van der Snickt in the context of his doctoral dissertation.³

White: Nearly all the measurements detected zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), small amounts of calcium (Ca) andiron (Fe). The presence of iron probably indicates the use of an earth pigment in the ground layer; this would account for its yellowish colour. The artist opted for zinc white paint in the paint layer itself.

Red: Ensor predominantly used one or more sorts of organic red lake. These cannot be detected with PXRF The same colour appears in many of Ensor’s works, above all from 1890 onwards, with the occasional earlier exception (unless, of course, they are later reworkings). Ensor used this red lake extensively in this work. This can be seen from its typical pink/orange fluorescence under UV. Ensor applied this red lake (a pigment usually associated with translucent glazes) in a very pasty manner; this partly explains its heavy craquelure. In addition to this lake, the measurements also included traces of mercury (Hg), indicating the use of vermilion.

Blue: The measurements established the use of cobalt. Here, Ensor applied this blue in a more dilute form and often mixed with white, in contrast to his works of the 1890s. Not all the measurements taken in blue areas detected cobalt, so it is probable that Ensor used two different blue paints here, of which the other may be a synthetic ultramarine. Ensor used a combination of two different shades of blue in several works.

Yellow: Typical for Ensor’s late period, he used cadmium yellow in this painting.

Green: Ensor also opted to use a combination of different shades for the green areas. The green in the azalea consists of a combination of copper arsenate (most likely Emerald green) and chromium oxide (chrome green or viridian green). Chrome was also measured in the other plant, but no copper was detected there. Iron was measured in the brown shades, which indicates the use of an earth pigment.

The damage is mostly concentrated in the red lake. That paint layer is very fragile from the heavy craquelure and there is material loss in several places. There are also traces of restorations as there are remnants of wax and cotton wool found in several places in the paint layer.
Small paint chips are present on top of the paint layer here and there. The most probable explanation is that no consideration was given to loose paint flakes during the re-lining process and therefore paint flakes got attached in the wrong places. Lacunae are present in at the edges of the painting as well. In some places there are deposits of grime on the red lake. These grainy particles have stuck to the top layer of the red lake. This may have occurred when the canvas was lined; the heat employed would have made the paint layer slightly sticky.

In 1996, Jan Bender carried out a restoration and applied a paraloid varnish (B72). His restoration report also records using a solvent to remove several layers of varnish. It is unclear whether Ensor varnished the work himself, but Bender’s comments suggest that he may have.

Oscar Fischer Collection, Antwerp; donated to the museum by Oscar Fischer, Antwerp, 1937.

5/08/1996 condition report by Jan Bender, KMSKA archives, RES 0957/2346. With age, the canvas has become badly cracked and dry it has started to sag in folds. It is also too weak to be retensioned without risking tears. There are disturbing cracks spread across the entire surface. Paint flakes and matte and blind layers of varnish seriously disrupt the aesthetic appearance of the painting.
5/08/1996, treatment report by Jan Bender, KMSKA archives, RES 0957/2346. Nourished the back of the original canvas with dilute colourless resin (dammar resin), to reduce the porosity of the canvas and make it less permeable to beeswax. Followed by attaching a new canvas support with beeswax, dammar resin and alum as an adhesive. Both canvases were pressed together under pressure to re-flatten the original canvas. A solvent was carefully applied to the old varnish layers which were then removed. Damaged pieces of paint were sealed and retouched with light-resistant paint (tempera). A new protective layer of colourless varnish (polaroid B72) was applied.
17/09/1996 condition check, overall condition: good.
5/10/1997 condition check.
7/08/1999 treatment report by Lizet Klaassen: condition report – internal treatment proposal: fixing stretcher keys; adding felt in the rebate; installing new hanging system and barcode.
23/10/2001 treatment report by Gwen Borms.
23/10/2001 condition report by Gwen Borms, general condition: sound.
06/03/2002 deformations observed across the entire surface, above all in its middle.
Loan/Transport ban: unlined work that responds very strongly to fluctuations in climate.

1939, Paris, La Gazette des Beaux-Arts et Beaux-Arts, Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Ensor, no. 83;
1948, Buenos Aires, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Exposicion de Arte Belga Contemporaneo, no. 26, image;
1953, São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Il Bienal, no 22;
1968, Venlo, Cultureel Centrum, Het bloementhema in de schilderkunst, no. 14, image no. 5;
1983/1984, Kobe, The Museum of Modern Art, James Ensor, no. 64, image p. 98;
1984, Kamakura, The Museum of Modern Art, James Ensor, no. 64, image p. 98;
1984, Saitama, The Museum of Modern Art, James Ensor, no. 64, image p. 98;
1984, Sendai, Miyagi Museum of Art, James Ensor, no. 64, image p. 98;
1991, Norfolk, The Chrysler Museum, A Festival of Flowers. Flowers in Flemish and Belgian painting, image;
1995, Stockholm, The State Museum of Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, A Festival of Flowers. Flowers in Belgian Painting from Neoclassicism to Expressionism, image;
1996, Brussels, Galerie van het Gemeentekrediet, Bloemen in de schilderkunst van de 16de tot de 20ste eeuw, no. 53, image p. 143;
2001/2002, Bologna, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, The Nature of Still Life. From Manet to the Present Day, no. 15, image p. 66;
2010/ 2011, Brussels, ING Culture Center, Ensor Unmasked, no. 253, image p. 223;
2011, The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, James Ensor. A Visionary Universe, image p. 142;