Au conservatoire

James Ensor's 'Au conservatoire' (At the Conservatory, 1902) depicts a scene from musical educational life — the conservatory as the institution where classical music training was imparted with rigorous technique. Ensor's engagement with the conservatory subject placed him within his Belgian world (the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels was a significant cultural institution), and his treatment would bring his characteristic ironic, sometimes disturbing vision to what might otherwise be a straightforward genre subject.

Ensor renders the conservatory scene with his characteristic approach — the figures (students, teachers, or audience) depicted with the psychological intensity and occasional distortion that gave his figure subjects their distinctive quality. His handling of the institutional setting and the social dynamics within it reflects his sustained ability to find the hidden strangeness within apparently conventional situations. His palette and handling in this subject shows his sustained technical development beyond his celebrated mask and skeleton compositions.