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Label Text This is a rare hand-colored version of Ensor's most famous etching. The etching was completed in 1898, ten years after Ensor finished the mural-sized painting of the same subject. Ensor was one of the forerunners of the Expressionist movement. Born in Ostend, the Belgian seaport on the North Sea, he entered the Brussels Academy to study art at the age of 17. By the time he was 23, he joined Les XX (The Twenty), which organized exhibitions, sponsored lectures by young writers and played avant-garde music. The Art Center's work, which is heightened by reds and greens and yellows, is an updating and a relocation of the traditional theme of the entry of Christ into Jersusalem. Ensor brought his Christ in Brussels, apparently at Mardi Gras, for color and excitement abound, though not joy or good will. Banners proclaiming various political figures of the day and various businesses appear throughout the work. The caricatures and mask-like faces are menacing and the haloed figure of Christ in the center is nearly lost in the mass of humanity. Ensor very pointedly indicates that the reappearance of Christ into contemporary society would have had the same tragic result as did Christ's entry into Jerusalem. Source: Bulletin, January-Februart 1972.
Exhibition History"Mao to Mars: Heroes and Superheroes," Des Moines Art Center, Jan. 6 - Apr. 8, 2001

"Let the People Decide," Des Moines Art Center, Dec. 4, 1999 - Feb. 27, 2000

"Masterworks on Paper: Fifteenth to Nineteenth Centuries," Des Moines Art Center, Oct. 10, 1998 - Jan. 24, 1999

"Sight And Insight: Prints of the Late 19th Century," Des Moines Art Center, Sept. 23 - Nov. 19, 1989

"Collector's Choice," Des Moines Art Center, Mar. 15 - Apr. 25, 1971
Published ReferencesDES MOINES SUNDAY REGISTER, Dec. 26, 1971

Emma Lila Fundaburk and Thomas Davenport, ART IN PUBLIC PLACES IN THE UNITED STATES, Bowling Green Popular Press, OH, 1975, ref. p.373, ill. pl. no.205

AN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. p.108, color ill. p.109

DMAC Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1972

DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. pp.65 & 66, b/w ill. p.65
DimensionsFrame: 19 7/8 × 24 1/8 × 1 in. (50.5 × 61.3 × 2.5 cm)
Sheet: 9 3/4 × 14 in. (24.8 × 35.6 cm)
Plate: 9 5/8 × 14 in. (24.4 × 35.6 cm)
Accession Number 1971.12
Classificationsprint
CopyrightPublic Domain
SignedJames Ensor (l,r graphite) J. Ensor (l,r plate)
Catalogue raisonnéCroques 114 | Delteil 114 ii/ii | Taevernier 114 iii/iii
Provenance(Allan Frumkin Gallery, Chicago); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 1971]
Entry of Christ into Brussels in 1889
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines