Ensor’s Mother Sleeping 1915

In this drawing, James Ensor pictures his mother sleeping with coloured pencils. Can you imagine the feel of the waxy crayon in his hand? Look at the delicate hatching and the subtle gradations of colour. There’s an intimacy to the subject, a quiet reverence that comes through in the gentleness of the lines. The repetition of linear marks seem to be mapping the quietness of the room, filling the negative space with colour. It makes me think about Vuillard, Bonnard and their paintings of their families. But Ensor brings something darker to the composition – the shadow of the hair, the vacant stare of the eyes in the face, the red background - that alludes to a different mood. With these simple gestures, Ensor manages to create a space that is at once familiar and strange, personal and universal. It reminds us that art is, at its core, an act of connection - a way to reach out and touch the world, and the people in it, with tenderness and curiosity.