The Oyster Eater (Ensor)

The Oyster Eater is an oil painting executed in 1882 by the Belgian Expressionist artist James Ensor which is now in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp.

The Oyster Eater
French: La mangeuse d'huîtres
Artist	James Ensor
Year	1882
Medium	Oil on panel
Dimensions	207 cm × 150 cm (81 in × 59 in)
Location	Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Antwerp

The genre work depicts the artist's sister Mitche eating oysters on her own at a well-appointed table replete with flowers, plates, wine and table linen. Although painted in an impressionist style Ensor himself disassociated himself from the French movement. Whilst in agreement with them that light and colour were more important than line, for him light in particular had an almost spiritual value. [1]

However the painting was refused by the Antwerp Salon of 1882, possibly because of the sexual overtones suggested by a single young woman eating oysters, then considered an aphrodisiac. In this respect the painting can be compared with Jan Steen's salacious The Oyster Eater of 1680. When also rejected by the alternative exhibitors l'Essor the following year, Ensor and his associates were provoked into establishing their own group, Les XX, to hold their own exhibitions of avant-garde works.[2]