La Procession des pénitents de Furnes

Ensor turns a traditional Flemish penitents’ procession into a feverish theatre of belief and burlesque. Compressed space, acid hues, and flickering, mask-like faces make devotion feel both sincere and carnivalesque. The paint scumbles and scratches, catching the crush of bodies and the clang of symbols—part chronicle, part critique of crowd piety in fin-de-siècle Belgium.