Skeleton looking at chinoiseries

Skeleton looking at chinoiseries marks a turning point in James Ensor's oeuvre: iconographically, he introduced the motif of the skeleton and abandoned the impressionistic depiction of reality as he had practised it until then. The painting shows us a room in which a figure is looking at a Japanese (and not Chinese, as the title suggests) picture book. Around 1888 Ensor had the habit of reworking his paintings and giving them a new, fantastic content. In Skeleton looking at chinoiseries Ensor limited himself to two small interventions that thoroughly changed the content of the painting: at the bottom left he added a skull and the seated figure also received a skull.