James Ensor

In *Christ Calming the Storm*, James Ensor brings to life a passage from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. ‘Lord, save us, we are perishing!’ He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he stood up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. This text symbolises Christ bringing peace to humanity caught up in the tumultuous waves of life. With a sensibility reminiscent of Turner’s, James Ensor dissolves realistic motifs into waves of colour. His technique, which was the subject of much sarcasm early in his career, was in fact daring and hinted at the beginnings of a Belgian Impressionism. Yet the painter always refused to be associated with this movement. The artist had painted an earlier version of this work, with the same title, in 1891. It is now held at the MuZee in Ostend, Ensor’s birthplace. The version at the Musée d’Ixelles, almost identical to the first, was painted in 1906 and subsequently backdated by the artist himself.  

This translation has been automatically generated by DeepL.