Le Christ tourmenté (Christ Tormented)

James Ensor

1888

One of the most radical artists of the late nineteenth century, James Ensor paired highly individualistic iconography with a painterly technique emphasizing the expressive qualities of light and color. The idiosyncratic elements he introduced into his paintings include grotesque and caricatured faces inspired by Belgian Carnival celebrations and Chinese theater masks sold at his family’s curio shop. Beginning in the 1880s and 1890s Ensor created many highly subjective treatments of religious themes that were not common subject matter in the arts at the turn of the century. In Christ Tormented Jesus Christ hangs crucified amidst an atmospheric landscape of color. As in some conventional depictions, Christ is tormented by a Roman soldier who pierces his side with a lance. Ensor has embellished this traditional tableau with a small demon atop the cross, figures wearing masks, and flying spirits or angels. Ensor’s depiction focuses on Christ at his most human, including in the moment of affliction at the hands of such fanciful creatures. Ensor’s innovative works sometimes received harsh criticism from critics. Although not well known in Belgium until the 1920s, he was acclaimed by German Expressionist artists in the 1910s for his independent style and intensely personal imagery. [Permanent collection label, 2016]

Artist James Ensor (Belgian, 1860–1949)
Title Le Christ tourmenté (Christ Tormented)
Date 1888
Medium Oil on linen
Dimensions unframed | 21 7/8 x 27 5/8 in.
Credit line Bequest of Morton J. May, 1968
Object number WU 4391

Technique oil painting
Work type painting

"Don't Be Angry!"
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/09/2025 - 07/21/2025

In Your Wildest Dreams. Ensor Beyond Impressionism
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, 09/28/2024 - 01/19/2025

Ugly: An Alternative Look at Western Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 06/05/2013 - 07/29/2013

Mythologized, Idealized, Modernized: The Human Figure in Western Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/13/2011 - 07/18/2011

Edvard Munch and European Modernism
Art Institute of Chicago, 02/14/2009 - 04/30/2009

Teaching Gallery exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/23/2004 - 03/28/2004

James Ensor 1860–1949: Theatre of Masks
Barbican Art Gallery (London, England), 09/11/1997 - 12/14/1997

A Gallery of Modern Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/09/1994 - 10/16/1994

Cubists, Surrealists, and Expressionists

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Morton D. May
Saint Louis University (St. Louis, Missouri), 02/14/1960 - 07/04/1960

Homage à James Ensor
Galerie Georges Giroux (Brussels, Belgium), 10/13/1945 - 11/04/1945

Les XX
Musées royaux des beaux-arts de Belgique (Brussels, Belgium)

Antwerp
Kunst van Heden (Antwerp, Belgium)

Art Belge
Venue Unknown (Madrid, Spain)

1968
Morton J. May, St. Louis

Inscription Recto, lower right, in red paint:

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