Christ Among the Murderers 1921

James Ensor made this print, Christ Among the Murderers, using crayon, and look at how the colours vibrate! It’s like Ensor is thinking through colour as he draws, letting the image emerge from the marks. There’s a real sense of immediacy and intimacy to the image, like he’s right there in the scene with Christ, surrounded by all this, well, murderous energy. I love how the soft waxy texture of the crayon gives everything this kind of hazy, dreamlike quality. The halo around Christ’s head, those soft, blended colours, it feels so tender. But then you have these scratchy, almost aggressive marks around the edges, creating this tension between beauty and brutality. The figures around Christ, with their weird, mask-like faces, they’re all rendered in this quick, almost frantic way. And look at the way Ensor uses colour to create depth and space. It’s almost like he’s building the image up layer by layer, letting the colours bleed into each other. Ensor’s work feels like a bridge between the old masters and something totally new. I see echoes of Goya in his dark, brooding themes, but with this added layer of personal expression. For me, Ensor’s work is a reminder that art doesn’t always have to be pretty or perfect. It can be raw, messy, and full of contradictions.