Peculiar Insects, state V
James Ensor
Belgian, 1860–1949
1888
A drypoint print in which James Ensor turns insects into hybrid, masklike figures—part satire, part fantasy—to suggest human follies and inner strangeness.
You first notice three oddly anthropomorphic insects—a winged figure with a human profile, a bulky beetle with a face, and a small companion—drawn in delicate, scratchy lines and set against a sparse, ambiguous landscape that makes them at once comic and uncanny.
Created in 1888, this work exemplifies Ensor’s Symbolist and proto‑Expressionist use of grotesque hybrids to critique society and expand the expressive, satirical possibilities of printmaking.
Medium
Drypoint
Dimensions
composition: 4 7/16 × 6 1/8" (11.3 × 15.5 cm); plate: 4 5/8 × 6 1/4" (11.8 × 15.9 cm); sheet: 7 3/4 × 11 1/4" (19.7 × 28.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
113.1952
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
