Dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the death of the Belgian artist James Ensor (1860-1949)
9, 10 & 11 December 2024 - University of Antwerp, Hof van Liere, Antwerp (Belgium)
English spoken
James Ensor is increasingly recognized as a crucial figure in the development of modern art. With his uncompromising visual language, the artist distanced himself from the classical European beauty ideal and the impressionism that had fascinated him initially. In his bold satire and masquerades with experimental forms and contrasting colours, Ensor presaged forerunners of expressionism like Edvard Munch and Vincent Van Gogh, as well as the surrealists. Around 1900, avant-gardists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Emil Nolde and Erich Heckel recognized him as an innovative artist who broke with classic Western European artistic values and traditions.
This three-day symposium will bring together national and international researchers, who in recent years have shed new light on James Ensor, the painter, graphic artist, draughtsman and writer. At the same time, it aspires to build a bridge to the future so as to keep alive the interest in, research into and inspiration of (the cultural-historical context of) Ensor’s diverse practices.
Organised by the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, in association with the University of Antwerp (ARCHES – Antwerp Cultural Heritage Sciences & ARIA – Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts), the symposium ties in with the exhibition In Your Wildest Dreams. Ensor Beyond Impressionism, which the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp is mounting in the autumn of 2024 as the final chord of the Ensor jubilee year.