Katrien, resident:
The gangly man with the telescope is actually Ensor. He often included himself in his paintings. The ultimate voyeur, he occupies the best position, on top of the highest bathing cart, to be sure not to miss anything of the spectacle unfolding on the beach. How can we be so sure it’s a self-portrait? Well, he was in fact a rather lanky figure. He often walked around dressed in a baggy black cloak, his local nickname in Ostend was Pietje de Dood, (Pete Death).
Anyone still in doubt should take a look at the other self-portrait Ensor painted near a beach hut: l’Appel de la Sirène, in English: The Lure of the Mermaid. The lanky man in a striped swimming costume shakily keeps his arms crossed while a voluptuous woman beckons to him. The painting is a parody of a popular postcard of the time, in which a lifeguard invites an anxious woman into the water.
Ensor’s mother and aunt sold that card in their souvenir shop. But Ensor reversed the roles so it is the man who doesn’t dare take the plunge. You don’t have to be a psychologist to understand the double entendre: Ensor did have cold feet when it came to the opposite sex.