The gendarmes

The Gendarmes is an oil painting on panel that, although small in size, still makes a strong political statement. After all, with this painting James Ensor reacted to a real event in Ostend in the summer of 1887. The fishermen's revolt was the result of a long-running conflict with British fishermen, in which the Ostend fishermen accused them of unfair competition. The British flooded the Ostend market with much cheaper fish, an evil that resulted in an uprising that dragged on for several days and was finally violently suppressed by the vigilantes. There were a few deaths and several wounded. Afterwards, the situation of the local fishermen remained just as miserable. The protest did not lead to the hoped-for improvement of their status. The conflicts with the international fishery continued and foreign fish could still be sold on the market in Ostend. It was not until after the First World War that the situation fundamentally changed.