The artist James Sidney Edouard Ensor was born on 13 April 1860 in the Belgian city of Oostende (Ostend). Except for the three years living and studying history and religious painting at the Brussels academy. James Ensor lived his entire life in Ostend. A bit strange for an artist of his kind, most of them travel around the world or at least settle themselves in Brussels or Antwerp. But James Ensor loved his birthplace city so much that he could never leave it.
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| James Ensor at the balcony of the Kursaal in Ostend |
He painted in a lot of different styles, he was not only a painter, draftsman, printmaker of portraits, fish, genre scenes, masks, people, still lifes, interiors, satires, marines in the Impressionist, But he also had a Post-Impressionist, Fauvism and Symbolistic style.
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| James Ensor - The Intrigue |
James Ensor also later became a music composer. He also got involved with the avant-garde group Les XX. He was knighted and given the title of Baron. In later years, he designed sets for ballets and continued to paint until his death at age of eighty-nine.
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| James Ensor at work |
James Ensor died on November 19 1949 in Oostende. His work can be seen in museums all over the world.