Café-concert in Munich 1880 - 1883

James Ensor sketched ‘Café-concert in Munich’ using pen and ink on paper. Ensor, living through the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, was witness to significant shifts in European society and art. Here, we see a crowded outdoor café scene, a popular subject at the time, filled with figures who seem to be caught between leisure and unease. Ensor often depicted masked figures and distorted faces in his work, reflecting a society that he saw as hypocritical and artificial. The figures at the café, with their exaggerated features, seem to embody this critique. The choice of a café, a space for public gathering, suggests a commentary on social interaction and performance. It is hard not to consider the way class distinctions are at play, and the ways in which individuals perform their social roles. The sketch has an emotional intensity, and the frenetic lines convey a sense of unease. Ensor pushes us to consider the tensions between surface appearances and underlying realities.