Devil's Sabbath
James Ensor
Belgian, 1860–1949
1887
A small etching in which James Ensor stages a grotesque, carnival-like procession of devils, masks, and skeletal figures, using satire and the uncanny to expose social hypocrisy and existential anxiety.
What hits you first is the feverish, scratchy linework and the crowded two-tier procession—masked revelers, riders and demonic figures scurrying beneath a crescent moon—so that the quiet paper around the plate feels like a held breath.
Created in 1887, this print helped push late-19th-century art toward modernist and expressionist themes by bringing grotesque, carnavalesque satire into the medium of etching to confront contemporary society and inner dread.
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
plate: 8 5/8 x 10 9/16" (21.9 x 26.9cm); sheet: 12 9/16 x 19 11/16" (31.9 x 50cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
589.1954
Palette
Exhibitions
