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Lot Essay
The present work depicts a double portrait of the artist and Augusta Boogaerts (fig. 1). Augusta Boogaerts (1870-1951) was the daughter of an Ostend hotelier who became the artist's close companion in the late 1880s. Their singular friendship was to last over 60 years. Called La Sirène (The Mermaid) by Ensor, Augusta remained single like the artist throughout her life and was to have a significant influence upon his life and work. It was Boogaerts who composed the numerous still-lifes with trinkets and seashells painted by Ensor in the 1930s. She also handled the sale of his works.
In her book, James Ensor, the creative years, Diane Lesko writes about Ensor's relationships with women. About Boogaerts in Nos deux portraits she writes: 'she is shown fully dressed, with her gloves on, a fur stole in her lap, and a large flowered hat on her head. The hint of a smile is evident as she looks towards the window at the left edge of the painting. In her right hand she holds a flower; flowers also lie at her feet, seemingly having fallen from a vase on the table... There is a sense of light intrigue here, of cladestine moments stolen by unmarried lovers. Despite the painting's charm, however, the portrait hints at a psychic and physical distance that exists and will remain between the lovers: their heads and bodies are turned in opposite directions and Ensor has further distanced himself from Augusta by portraying his image as across the room, reflected in the glass of a mirrored wardrobe' (D. Lesko, op. cit., p. 147-148).
In her book, James Ensor, the creative years, Diane Lesko writes about Ensor's relationships with women. About Boogaerts in Nos deux portraits she writes: 'she is shown fully dressed, with her gloves on, a fur stole in her lap, and a large flowered hat on her head. The hint of a smile is evident as she looks towards the window at the left edge of the painting. In her right hand she holds a flower; flowers also lie at her feet, seemingly having fallen from a vase on the table... There is a sense of light intrigue here, of cladestine moments stolen by unmarried lovers. Despite the painting's charm, however, the portrait hints at a psychic and physical distance that exists and will remain between the lovers: their heads and bodies are turned in opposite directions and Ensor has further distanced himself from Augusta by portraying his image as across the room, reflected in the glass of a mirrored wardrobe' (D. Lesko, op. cit., p. 147-148).