Marijke, resident:
Most people couldn’t swim in 1890. They didn’t have to, because bathing in Ostend back then basically meant immersing yourself in the water. Briefly feeling the effect of the healthy cold water, definitely not swimming in the deep. A lifeboat did patrol the area to be on the safe side. After all, the town had to ensure the safety of its citizens, hence the red and yellow flags on the sloop, in Ostend’s colours.
Ensor wouldn’t be Ensor if he didn’t reverse those colours. The red is usually at the top and the yellow at the bottom. That’s what our painter liked to do: turn things upside down, reverse roles.
By the way, look to the left and right of the boat. Quite a few people are bobbing upside down in the water there too! The life guards on duty are not particularly bothered, they calmly sail past. Apparently, it was a popular trick at the time. Take a look, there is a rare photograph of someone doing just that, preserved in Ostend’s city archives, from around 1890, exactly the same time as The Baths was created.