“I believe I am an exceptional painter.“ (J. Ensor)

Like Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch, James Ensor (1860–1949) was the avant-garde painter in northern Europe and harbinger of the German Expressionists and French Surrealists. A legend in his own time, he achieved fame as the “painter of masks,” bizarre still lifes, and grotesque carnival scenes in harsh, contrasting, brilliant colors, evolving out of the traditional Flemish Danse Macabre. Furthermore, Ensor was skilled in an extraordinary number of styles and continually explored and varied different themes and motifs – facts that make his work seem surprisingly modern to this very day.

Now the reader can explore the Belgian painter’s oeuvre in this opulently illustrated, all-color catalogue raisonné. A comprehensive illustrated chronology provides additional details about the artist’s life and work and forms an integral part of this splendid, highly valuable contribution to art-historical research.