ENSOR, James
(b. 1860, Oostende, d. 1949, Oostende)

Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889

1888
Oil on canvas, 253 x 431 cm
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

James Ensor took on religion, politics, and art in this scene of Christ entering contemporary Brussels in a Mardi Gras parade. In response to the French pointillist style, Ensor used palette knives, spatulas, and both ends of his brush to put down patches of colours with expressive freedom.

Ensor's society is a mob, threatening to trample the viewer - a crude, ugly, chaotic, dehumanized sea of masks, frauds, clowns, and caricatures. Public, historical, and allegorical figures, along with the artist's family and friends, make up the crowd. The haloed Christ at the centre of the turbulence is in part a self-portrait: mostly ignored, a precarious, isolated visionary amidst the herdlike masses of modern society. Ensor's Christ functions as a political spokesman for the poor and oppressed - a humble leader of the true religion, in opposition to the atheist social reformer Emile Littré, shown in bishop's garb holding a drum major's baton and leading on the eager, mindless crowd.

Above the crowd is a political banner bearing the legend Vive la Sociale ('Long live the Welfare State'); the implication is that Christ's message, like Ensor's, is not being heeded. Parody becomes a nightmare when one notices, lurking among the masks on the left foreground, the figure of Death in a top hat. After rejection by Les XX, the artists' association that Ensor had helped to found, the painting was not exhibited publicly until 1929. Ensor displayed Christ's Entry prominently in his home and studio throughout his life. With its aggressive, painterly style and merging of the public with the deeply personal, Christ's Entry was a forerunner of twentieth-century Expressionism.

The painting is signed and dated lower right, beneath the elevated platform: "J. ENSOR / 1888".