Lady with Red Parasol 1880

Editor: We're looking at "Lady with Red Parasol" by James Ensor, painted around 1880. It appears to be an oil painting with a flurry of brushstrokes, quite different from perfectly posed portraits, which makes me wonder about what it might convey about identity. What do you see in this piece? Curator: You know, she reminds me a bit of those figures in a half-remembered dream, slightly blurred around the edges, doesn’t she? Ensor's approach is interesting because it's almost as if he's capturing a feeling, an impression, rather than a photographic likeness. Look at the red; the way he uses the parasol and dress to just explode with color, like a defiant shout in an otherwise muted landscape. Editor: I hadn't thought of it as defiant! I read it more as melancholy. Why defiant? Curator: Maybe both! But defiance whispers because Impressionism itself was pretty daring for its time. Consider the stiff, formal portraits dominating art at the time. Then Ensor comes along with these shimmering surfaces and this unapologetic red, challenging the status quo. Does the texture hint that perhaps Ensor prioritizes emotion over realism? Editor: It does! It’s like he’s using the brushstrokes to carve out a feeling instead of just filling in a picture. That is so interesting! I am still going to sit with calling it a scream of colour but I think I am closer to seeing it now. Curator: Exactly! It's an experience, an emotional resonance. And that’s the heart of Ensor's genius, I think. Editor: Thanks for shining light on that! I am gonna look for more works of Ensor and this "defiance whispered". I guess the impression on my emotions about art keeps growing!