Skeletons Fighting over a Hanged Man

Skeletons Fighting over a Hanged Man is an 1891 oil painting by the Belgian Expresssionist painter James Ensor which is in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp. [1]

Skeletons Fighting over a Hanged Man
French: Squelettes se disputant un pendu
Artist	James Ensor
Year	1891
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	59 cm × 74 cm (23 in × 29 in)
Location	Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Antwerp

The work depicts an on-stage drama in which two skeletons dressed in masks and women's clothing are fighting with traditional female weapons such as brooms and umbrellas. Behind them hangs a dead body described as "civet", the French description for a hare stew. In both wings extras wearing masks and carrying knives are watching the fight. A loose web connects the body to the combattants. [2]

One mysogynistic interpretation of the work is that the two quarrelling women represent Ensor's wife and mistress and he the helpless body over which they fight. An alternative more androgynous interpretation is that the quarrelsome pair represent Ensor's embittered view of his critics where he again is the powerless prize; the people in the wings would in this case represent the public, some for and some against his art.