This book offers a unique journey through the history of still life in Belgium in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with Ensor as guide. Still life played an important role within the oeuvre of Belgian expressionist and symbolist painter James Ensor (1860-1949). The quality and significance of his intriguing, complex still lifes become clear when placed within the broader development of the genre in Belgium between 1830 and 1930. The still life, which in the early 19th century had degenerated into a decor