Theatre of Masks (1908)

In 1908 the poet Émile Verhaeren published the first full book on James Ensor, and in it he likened Ensor's theatres of masks to the garden parties Watteau had painted two centuries earlier. This canvas dates from that same year, yet its composition is older. A smaller, very similar version in Antwerp is dated 1889, and Ensor often went back to his own pictures and painted them again. On the brightly lit stage stand Harlequin, whose black mask has almost disappeared, and a white Pierrot, both with painted faces. The real masks are down in the audience, among spectators in fancy dress. According to the painting's previous owner, Fritz Trüssel, Ensor had the gilt frame built in the shape of a stage, so that the whole object would work as a small theatre.