James Ensor, Flowers and Vegetables, 1896

by Atelier Liesjes

"On a wooden table stands a blue and white painted jug with a handle, and behind it a blue glass vase containing a large sunflower facing forwards, with a dark brown centre and golden-yellow petals. Above and beside the sunflower, pink flowers hang from tall stems, with a few orange-red flowers at the top left and withering tendrils fading into the distance on the right. In front of the vase lies the garden’s harvest: a bundle of red rhubarb with green leaves, a large cabbage with curly leaves on the right, a cucumber, a pale green fennel bulb, a garlic bulb and, at the bottom left, two orange-red tomatoes. In the bottom right-hand corner, a white cloth hangs over the edge of the table, bearing the signature and the year 96 in red letters. The background is a mottled, pink-brown wall, closed off on the right by a green curtain. Ensor places flowers and vegetables side by side as equal protagonists, lending the still life a sense of earthiness and, at the same time, festivity. The paint is impasto and energetic, with long, curling strokes in the foliage and short, thick brushstrokes in the sunflower; the colours are warm yet sharp, with terracotta, olive green, carmine red and indigo side by side. The composition is broad and flat, lacking depth, so that the tabletop functions as a stage. The loose bunch of rhubarb and the graceful, almost wilted stalks on the right lend the whole scene a sense of movement. It is a typically Belgian Symbolist still life: abundant, slightly ironic and imbued with the notion of transience. James Ensor (Ostend 1860 – Ostend 1949) painted still lifes throughout his life, mostly featuring objects from his family’s shop and from the kitchen. After achieving fame as a painter of masks, he continued to paint flowers, shells and vegetables with the same loose, exploratory brushwork. This 1896 canvas belongs to the series of still lifes in which he took that style to its extreme. A colourful, exuberant work for a dining room or kitchen with character."