Kristof, resident:
Ensor’s paintings and drawings are a mirror of his personal life. He couldn’t resist including himself in a corner somewhere, or incorporating portraits of people he knew. Often it was to mock, but his closest friends were also included, merely as an affectionate wink.
The beer belly in the corner of The Baths at Ostend is that of Eugène Demolder. He was a judge, writer, art critic and son-in-law of the famous painter Félicien Rops. But above all he was an agreeable bon-vivant with whom Ensor loved to go out on the town. Both he and Ensor ate and drank in Burgundian style, but with Demolder it all ended up around the ribs.
Eugène Demolder was also the first to promote Ensor’s work. He arranged his first solo exhibition in Brussels (in his father’s carpet shop) in 1894, and in Paris four years later. When Ensor painted another variation of The Baths at Ostend in 1926, his friend had already died. A beer belly he still has, but now topped with a skull.