Lot Essay
The model for this painting is Ensor's younger sister Marie, called Mitche, whom he painted in a series of oils in the early 1880s. Here, Marie is depicted sitting at the table loaded with a magnificent still-life shown in reflected and filtered light.
The first version of La Mangeuse d'Huîtres painted in 1882 and one of the masterpieces of the period is in the Antwerp Museum of Fine Arts but it was originally flatly refused by the Antwerp Salon when presented for exhibition in 1882. In the following year, it was refused again by the supposedly avant-garde group L'Essor. In 1884, Ensor's entire submission to the Brussels Salon was rejected. La Mangeuse d'Huîtres was said to be refused on the grounds of its "lack of form".
However, Ensor's friend, Emile Verhaeren, who admired the picture observed; "Quelle joie, quelle fête, quelle liesse de couleurs répandues sur la table où la mangeuse a pris place! Bouteilles, verres, assiettes, citrons, vins, liqueurs s'influencent, se pénètrent de lueurs entrent pour ainsi dire les uns dans les autres et maintiennent quand même, triomphantes, la solidité et la rigueur de leurs formes. Et cette admirable note rouge une tablette dans le fond de la toile! Et la belle chair vivante des mains et du visage. Et le plis blenâtres de la rappe et tout enfin." (J. D. Farmar, Ensor, exhibition catalogue, Chicago and New York, 1976, p. 21).
In 1908, Ensor tried to sell the picture (the original version) to the Museum of Fine Arts in Liège but it was acquired instead by the collectors Albin and Emma Lambotte in 1909.
The present painting is Ensor's second version of La Mangeuse d'Huîtres. It was painted just before the first version left his studio to enter the Lambotte's collection. It was executed in brighter colours which nevertheless retained the luminous jewel-like quality of the original. Ensor dates the second version 1882, the year of the first version.
The first version of La Mangeuse d'Huîtres painted in 1882 and one of the masterpieces of the period is in the Antwerp Museum of Fine Arts but it was originally flatly refused by the Antwerp Salon when presented for exhibition in 1882. In the following year, it was refused again by the supposedly avant-garde group L'Essor. In 1884, Ensor's entire submission to the Brussels Salon was rejected. La Mangeuse d'Huîtres was said to be refused on the grounds of its "lack of form".
However, Ensor's friend, Emile Verhaeren, who admired the picture observed; "Quelle joie, quelle fête, quelle liesse de couleurs répandues sur la table où la mangeuse a pris place! Bouteilles, verres, assiettes, citrons, vins, liqueurs s'influencent, se pénètrent de lueurs entrent pour ainsi dire les uns dans les autres et maintiennent quand même, triomphantes, la solidité et la rigueur de leurs formes. Et cette admirable note rouge une tablette dans le fond de la toile! Et la belle chair vivante des mains et du visage. Et le plis blenâtres de la rappe et tout enfin." (J. D. Farmar, Ensor, exhibition catalogue, Chicago and New York, 1976, p. 21).
In 1908, Ensor tried to sell the picture (the original version) to the Museum of Fine Arts in Liège but it was acquired instead by the collectors Albin and Emma Lambotte in 1909.
The present painting is Ensor's second version of La Mangeuse d'Huîtres. It was painted just before the first version left his studio to enter the Lambotte's collection. It was executed in brighter colours which nevertheless retained the luminous jewel-like quality of the original. Ensor dates the second version 1882, the year of the first version.