Tovenaars vliegen op bezems in de wind

1860–1949 · Virkested

Ostend

1880s

Brief trips to France and the Netherlands

Ensor travelled very little: in the 1880s, just three brief trips to France and two to the Netherlands.

1883–1893 · Medlemskab

Les XX

1887

Death of his father

His father, James Frederic Ensor, died — a scion of a wealthy English family who never found his footing in Belgium, mocked by small-town Ostend as a drunkard and failure, yet always supportive of his son's passion for art. Left the only man in the family, James felt a special responsibility for his younger sister Mariette (Mitche).

1888–1892

Turning-point years: the Passion of Christ

Ensor turned to religious themes, most often the torments of Christ, expressing through them his disgust at the inhumanity of the world; an atheist, he identified with Christ as a victim of mockery. At the height of his creative powers, between 1886 and 1891, he made 86 of his 133 etchings.