After eight years of meticulous conservation and restoration, James Ensor’s monumental drawing The Temptation of Saint Anthony—almost six feet tall and composed of 51 separate sheets of paper mounted to canvas—will be on view for the first time ever outside of Belgium. In celebration of the world premiere of the restored masterpiece and its first public showing in more than 60 years, the Art Institute is mounting a major exhibition exploring the making and meaning of Ensor’s landmark work and showcasing the visionary talent of this avant-garde artist.

Ensor spent most of his life in the coastal Belgian town of Ostend, and it is there in the 1880s that he created his most important drawing, The Temptation of Saint Anthony. His theme—that of the ancient saint who resists greed and lust—was time-old, but rather than simply show Anthony surrounded by the trials of centuries past, Ensor placed his saint at the mercy of modern life, surrounded by the temptations of a brutal and turbulent world. Kneeling in prayer, eyes closed tight, Ensor’s Saint Anthony closes his eyes to fast food, corruption, disease, and sexual violence. Above his head, in the rays of a rising sun, a sorrowful Christ wears a military helmet.

Though Ensor made the drawing at a difficult moment in his life, in the following decades, he lived with the work in his home. It suffered damage over time and, as his career developed and he earned acclaim, the artist even covered over some of its controversial imagery. Since acquiring The Temptation of Saint Anthony in 2006, the Art Institute has restored the magnificent drawing to its original 19th-century composition, revealing important insights into Ensor’s technical process.

Temptation: The Demons of James Ensor debuts this beautifully conserved work alongside generous loans from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, and other notable institutions. From life in his childhood home by the sea, to the political and social upheaval of his student days, from the grief and anguish that followed the death of his father to his engagement with Japanese art and avant-garde culture, this show both reveals how the themes and motifs in Ensor’s iconic drawing developed and presents a thorough and fascinating overview of the artist’s early career.

Organizer
This exhibition has been co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago in association with the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.

Sponsors
Temptation: The Demons of James Ensor is made possible by the Regenstein Foundation.
Annual support for Art Institute exhibitions is provided by the Exhibitions Trust: Goldman Sachs, Kenneth and Anne Griffin, Thomas and Margot Pritzker, and the Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation.