Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2020.

View of the Port of Ostend

Artist James Ensor (Belgian, 1860 - 1949)

CultureBelgian

Date1900

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions24 1/4 × 29 3/4 in. (61.6 × 75.6 cm)
Overall, Frame: 32 1/2 × 38 × 3 1/2 in. (82.6 × 96.5 × 8.9 cm)

InscribedSigned and dated at the lower right: ENSOR 1900/Ostende; Handwritten label/inscription on the stretcher and backing board: "Eigentum von frau Fanny Lattmann, Hamburg 39/Andreasstrasse 11." [Property of Fanny Lattmann] ; Partially effaced label on frame verso: "Maison Fx. Mommen & Co./fabrique et atelier....."

Credit LineGift of Nat and Mary Jane Coleman

Object number2002.19.3

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting of the harbor of Ostend looking toward the east, with the steeple of the Old Church visible at center and row houses ranged along the Quai des Pêcheurs. Sailboats with pastel-colored mainsheets sail the harbor.

Label TextJames Ensor Belgian, 1860–1949 View of the Port of Ostend, 1900 Oil on canvas James Ensor was one of the leading avant-garde artists at the turn of the twentieth century, known for biting, satirical narrative paintings. He also produced a number of landscapes, including this view of the harbor of Ostend, the coastal Belgian town where he lived. Here an incredible array of aggressive brush and palette-knife work produces a beguilingly simple image of a placid harbor, the Fisherman’s Wharf, with an old church at the very center. Gift of Nat and Mary Jane Coleman 2002.19.3ProvenanceDr. Guttmann, Germany; Collection of Senator M. and Fanny Latmann, Hamburg, 1922-1959; sale, Hauswedell and Nolte, Hamburg, May 9, 1959, no. 456; Nat R. Coleman, Sr., New York, 1959-1961; Mrs. Coleman, New York, 1961-1963; Nat and Mary Jane Coleman, 1963-2002; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Gift of Nat and Mary Jane Coleman to the Chrysler Museum of Art, 2002. Exhibition History“Ostend: Ensor’s Imaginary Paradise,” Venetiaanse Gaanderijen, Ostend, Belgium, June 29 - November 3, 2024. Published ReferencesEmile Verhaeren, _James Ensor_ (Brussels: 1908), 121. Grégoire Le Roy, _James Ensor_ (Brussels-Paris: 1922), 187. Dr. Ernst Hauswedell, _Graphik Handzeichnungen Gemalde Plastik: Dekorative Graphik Landkarten Stadteansichten_ Antiquaratskatalog 139, Auktion 86 (Hamburg: Antiquaratskatalog, May 9, 1959): no. 457. Xavier Tricot, _James Ensor, catalogue raisonné des peintures_ (Antwerp: 1992), no. 384. Xavier Tricot, _James Ensor: Life and Work | The Complete Paintings_, (Brussels: Mercatorfonds, 2009), no. 397, p. 329 . Herwig Todts, _Oostende: Endors Denkbeeldige Paradijs_, (Ghent: Uitgeverij Tijdsbeeld, 2024), pp. 17, 102.