View on the port of Ostend

Almost half of Ensor's prints from 1886 to 1891 are landscapes, harbours and townscapes. It is possible that Ensor etched a large number of prints directly from nature. And among these landscapes we find some of his most sensitive plates. They are luminous, almost fairy-like impressions in which the motifs, suggested only by a few nervous traits, are completely consumed by light. The harbour views remind us of similar etchings by Whistler, which Ensor had seen some years earlier in an exhibition at Les XX.