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Lot Essay
Whilst James Ensor is arguably best known for his masks and procession paintings, these subjects only represent one aspect of his oeuvre. His relatively rare still-lifes of the late 1880s and early 1890s confirm his position as one of the great colourists working outside France at the end of the last century.
Verre de vin rouge, fraises et cerises is an exquisite and jewel-like still life from the most sought after period of Ensor's oeuvre (that is 1889 to 1900). It's sensitivity and balance is a testimony to the fact that, throughout his career, whatever the subject, Ensor was obsessed with harmonies of colour, compositional balance and the musicality of light effects. Later on in life the artist confided to André de Ridder: 'J'ai donné un style très libre, le beau style du peintre, style reflétant mes mépris, mes joies, mes peines, mes amours; style de rappels harmonieux, style musical, style sonore, style de plume et de pinceau...' (J. Ensor, Letter to André de Ridder, 2 August 1928).
Of the thirty still-lifes that Ensor painted between 1889 and 1900, arguably his best period, approximately two thirds have now found their way into museum collections around the world such as The Art Institute of Chicago, the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio as well as in Europe in the museums of Essen, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Munich, Otterlo, Brussels and Antwerp amongst others. It is therefore not surprising to find amongst the provenance of the present work the name of Marcel Mabille, the Belgian collector who was known to have one of the best if not the best collection of paintings by Ensor.
Verre de vin rouge, fraises et cerises is an exquisite and jewel-like still life from the most sought after period of Ensor's oeuvre (that is 1889 to 1900). It's sensitivity and balance is a testimony to the fact that, throughout his career, whatever the subject, Ensor was obsessed with harmonies of colour, compositional balance and the musicality of light effects. Later on in life the artist confided to André de Ridder: 'J'ai donné un style très libre, le beau style du peintre, style reflétant mes mépris, mes joies, mes peines, mes amours; style de rappels harmonieux, style musical, style sonore, style de plume et de pinceau...' (J. Ensor, Letter to André de Ridder, 2 August 1928).
Of the thirty still-lifes that Ensor painted between 1889 and 1900, arguably his best period, approximately two thirds have now found their way into museum collections around the world such as The Art Institute of Chicago, the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio as well as in Europe in the museums of Essen, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Munich, Otterlo, Brussels and Antwerp amongst others. It is therefore not surprising to find amongst the provenance of the present work the name of Marcel Mabille, the Belgian collector who was known to have one of the best if not the best collection of paintings by Ensor.