id: 127953 accession number: 1950.582 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1950.582 updated: The Garden of the Rousseau Family, 1885. James Ensor (Belgian, 1860–1949). Oil on fabric; framed: 96.2 x 82.6 x 9.3 cm (37 7/8 x 32 1/2 x 3 11/16 in.); unframed: 75.5 x 61 cm (29 3/4 x 24 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1950.582 title: The Garden of the Rousseau Family title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1885 creation date earliest: 1885 creation date latest: 1885 current location: 223 20th Century Avant-Garde creditline: Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. copyright: --- culture: Belgium, 19th century technique: oil on fabric department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960 type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * James Ensor (Belgian, 1860–1949) - artist The painter's father, James Frederic Ensor (1835-1887), studied engineering in England and Germany and married Maria Catherina Haegheman (1835-1915) in Ostend. He was a cultivated man who showed much support for the artistic aspirations of his son, though he never felt at home in Ostend and eventually became an alcoholic. Ensor's mother ran a shop where she sold souvenirs, chinoiseries, and masks, objects that would often appear in his work. Ensor was very close to his only sister, Maria Carolina Emma (called Mitche), whom he portrayed repeatedly. In 1876 he enrolled at the Ostend Academy and painted mainly seascapes. In 1877 he entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921) was a fellow student. Two years later he was introduced to the Rousseau-Hannon family by Théo Hannon (1851-1917), a painter, poet, and art critic. In 1880 Ensor returned to Ostend where he set up a studio in his parents' house, but he went frequently to Brussels in order to visit the Rousseaus. He started exhibiting regularly in 1881, though his work was often criticized or rejected. In 1882 Ensor became a member of the art society L'essor and one year later cofounded the avant-garde group Les XX (Les vingt). He was much dismayed by the dominance of French art in Belgium and in particular by the success of Seurat's (q.v.) pointillist style. The death of his father in 1887 meant that Ensor had to assume the role of head of the household, which aggravated his financial difficulties. In 1888 he started working on his masterpiece The Entry of Christ into Brussels in 1889 (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles). In this forceful manifesto against Belgian society, Ensor identified with Christ as a gravely misunderstood individual. That same year he met Augusta Boogaerts (1870-1951), whom he called "La Sirène," and they became lifelong friends. His mother was vehemently opposed to their marriage, which therefore never happened, even after her death. In 1893 Les XX disbanded despite Ensor's objection, and La Libre Esthétique replaced it as the avant-garde artistic organization. Ensor was not granted full membership, however, and in an act of despair he unsuccessfully tried to sell all his work for BF 8,500. In 1894 he exhibited with La Libre Esthétique and founded the Cercle des Beaux-Arts d'Ostende. He became more appreciated around this time; he had his first solo show in Brussels in 1894, and a few months later the state bought The Lamp-lighter for the Musées Royaux de Beaux-Arts in Brussels. An exhibition in 1898 at La Plume in Paris, however, was a fiasco. With a few exceptions, his work after 1900 is now generally little valued, although official recognition came at that time. In 1903 he received the title of Knight in the Order of Leopold, and in 1929, the year of a major retrospective in Brussels, he was granted the title of baron. Besides working as a painter, draftsman, and printmaker, he also became involved with music and theater. --- measurements: Framed: 96.2 x 82.6 x 9.3 cm (37 7/8 x 32 1/2 x 3 11/16 in.); Unframed: 75.5 x 61 cm (29 3/4 x 24 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Signed in blue lower left: ensor translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Ways of Painting Landscapes opening date: 1953-03-13T05:00:00 Ways of Painting Landscapes. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 13-May 6, 1953). title: James Ensor Retrospective opening date: 1999-09-24T00:00:00 James Ensor Retrospective. Musée d'Art Moderne, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium (September 24, 1999-February 13, 2000). title: Impressionist Gardens opening date: 2010-07-31T00:00:00 Impressionist Gardens. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh (July 31-October 17, 2010); Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain (November 23, 2010-February 27, 2011). title: Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse opening date: 2015-10-06T00:00:00 Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 6, 2015-January 5, 2016). title: Stories From Storage opening date: 2021-02-07T05:00:00 Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Modern Belgian Art in Private American Collections. Van Diemen-Lillienfield Galleries, New York, NY (1950). --- PROVENANCE James Ensor, sold to Ernst and/or Mariette Rousseau at the salon of Les XX (no. 11) date: 1885-1890 footnotes: citations: Ernest [1831-1908] and/or Mariette [1850-1926] Rousseau, Brussels date: 1890-at least 1908 footnotes: *
This painting depicts the garden of Ernest and Mariette Rousseau at their second home in Watermael-Bosvoorde, outside of Brussels.  Friends of Ensor, the Rousseau appear in many of the artist’s works.  The painting was first published in 1908, when Emile Verhaeren listed it as belonging to Ernest Rousseau, but it may very well have been painted for Mariette, a biologist whose father was a botanist. 
citations: Henry van de Velde [1863-1957], Wassenaar, the Netherlands date: footnotes: *
Henry van de Velde was a painter, architect, and part of the artists’ group Les XX, of which Ensor was a founding member.  Van de Velde participated in a number of exhibitions with Ensor. 
citations: (Galerie Giroux, Brussels, sale, February 10, 1930, lot 41) date: 1930 footnotes: *
Both the consignor and the buyer of the painting at this sale are unknown, although the former may be van de Velde. 
citations: (Sam Salz, New York, sold to Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.) date: After 1930-1946 footnotes: citations: Leonard C. Hanna Jr., Cleveland, OH, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1946-1950 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio date: 1950- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: James Ensor painted in a wide variety of styles and techniques, his subjects varying from realistic landscapes like this one to fantastical imagined scenes from literature and theater. The sea in his hometown of Ostend, Belgium, was also a favorite subject. digital description: This painting depicts the garden of the artist’s close friends Ernest and Mariette Rousseau. The artist, James Ensor, often stayed with the Rousseau family at their home in Brussels. He rendered this view of their garden in an Impressionist technique of bold color applied with strong, broken brushstrokes. Ensor worked mostly from memory and imagination. It is not known whether he painted this work from life or memory, but the empty garden hints at feelings of social alienation. wall description: Early in his career, Ensor often stayed at the Brussels home of his close friends, Ernest and Mariette Rousseau. In the intellectual circle gathered around Ernest, a professor of physics at the University of Brussels, Ensor encountered a receptive environment that liberated him from the stifling surroundings of his native Ostend. This tranquil view of Mariette's garden contrasts dramatically with Ensor's better-known paintings of moral depravity and social alienation. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Verhaeren, Emile. James Ensor. Bruxelles: G. Van Oest & cie, 1908. page number: url: Galerie Georges Giroux, and J.-F Elsander. Bulletin Et Catalogue Des Expositions James Ensor, 7. Au 18. Jan. 1920. Bruxelles. page number: Reproduced: no. 20 url: Le Roy, Grégoire. James Ensor. Bruxelles, Belgium : G. van Oest, 1922. page number: Reproduced: p. 112 url: Haesaerts, Luc, and Paul Haesaerts. Flandre; essai sur l'art flamand depuis 1880. Paris, France: Éditions des Chroniques du jour, G. di San Lazzaro, éditeur, 1931. page number: Reproduced: p. 662 url: Van Diemen-Lilienfeld Galleries (New York, N.Y.). Modern Belgian Art in Private American Collections: [Exhibit] at the Van Diemen-Lilienfeld Galleries, from May 13th to May 26th, 1950. New York, NY: [publisher not identified], 1950. page number: Reproduced: no.11 url: Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” July, 1951, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. page number: url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr0023 Tricot, Xavier. James Ensor: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings. Antwerp, Belgium: Pandora Ortelius, 1992. page number: url: Tricot, Xavier. James Ensor: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings. London: P. Wilson, 1992. page number: url: Ollinger-Zinque, Gisèle. Ensor: Musées Royaux Des Beaux-Arts De Belgique, Brussels, Belgium. Wommelgem: Blondé Artprinting International, 1999. page number: Reproduced: p. 134, no. 71 url: Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 256-258, Vol. I, no. 93 url: Tricot, Xavier. James Ensor. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2009. page number: url: Willsdon, Clare A. P. Impressionist Gardens. Edinburgh, Scotland: National Galleries of Scotland, 2010. page number: Mentioned: p. 100-101; Reproduced: p. 163, fig. 66p. url: Willsdon, Clare A. P. Jardines impresionistas. Madrid, Spain: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2010. page number: Reproduced: p. 162 url: --- IMAGES