Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-ensor-1060" aria-label="More by James Ensor" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">James Ensor</a>
Effect Light
Presented by Georges Wildenstein 1936
animals: features
flower
food and drink
fruit - non-specific
jug
objects
plants and flowers
shell
vase
vessels and containers
painting oil paint canvas
Effect of Light
support: 508 × 616 mm

Presented by Georges Wildenstein 1936
<p><b>James Ensor</b><span> 1860-1949 </span>
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<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ensor-effect-of-light-n04846" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04846</span></a> </span><b>Le Coup de Lumi</b><b>è</b><b>re</b><span>
(Effect of Light) 1935 </span>
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<p><span>Inscribed 'Ensor' b.r.</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 1/4 (50.5 x 61.5)</span>
<br/><span>Presented by Georges Wildenstein 1936</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
With Sam Salz, New York (purchased from the artist 1935); Georges Wildenstein, Paris, 1936</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>James Ensor</i><span>, Leicester Galleries, London, June-July 1936 (76) </span>
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<p><span>Although this picture was dated 1926 when exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, its first owner, Sam Salz, said that it was painted in 1935 and this date also appears in old records in the possession of Paul Haesaerts. </span>
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<p><span>Ensor's fondness for including seashells in his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/still-life" title="Glossary definition for 'Still life'"><span>still-life</span></a> pictures is explained by the fact that he spent his life at Ostend, in a house above a souvenir shop where seashells were part of the stock-in-trade. Several outlines of figures are faintly visible in the background on the right and may have been suggested by a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a> hanging on the wall. Ensor repeatedly introduced early <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> (with which the walls of his house were covered) in the background of his later compositions. However, no picture corresponding to this has yet been traced, and Marcel Mabille, who knew Ensor, has suggested that the figures may have been intended as 'spectators' looking at the still life. The sketchy style in which the figures are executed makes it more than likely that they are a late invention. They may be compared, for instance, with those in his last <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraving</span></a> of 1934, 'The Procession at Gistel'. </span>
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<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.202, reproduced p.202 </span>
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Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
animals: features flower food and drink fruit - non-specific jug objects plants and flowers shell vase vessels and containers