My Portrait as a Skeleton
Artist / maker
James Ensor (etchers)Date
1889Period
19th centuryCollection
Museum of Fine Arts Ghent
In 1889 Ensor made a self-portrait after a photograph. In the photo he is standing in front of a window of the Rousseau family's house at 20 Rue Vautier in Brussels. With one arm resting on a windowsill and the other in the pocket of his jacket, he poses for the photographer. A woman, presumably Mariette Rousseau, is just visible…
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In 1889 Ensor made a self-portrait after a photograph. In the photo he is standing in front of a window of the Rousseau family's house at 20 Rue Vautier in Brussels. With one arm resting on a windowsill and the other in the pocket of his jacket, he poses for the photographer. A woman, presumably Mariette Rousseau, is just visible through the window. On the first state of the etching "My portrait with a skull", of which a unique copy can be found in Mu.ZEE in Ostend, we see a fairly faithful copy of the photograph. In the second and third states, Ensor has stripped his face. Only his hair still adorns the skull, while his eyes, as in the photograph, look at the viewer. Behind the window, on the windowsill to the left, lies a skull, while the female figure has disappeared entirely.
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