Doctrinal Nourishment: Art and Anarchism in the Time of James Ensor

Ensor created Doctrinal Nourishment in 1889, at the height of the political instability, economic inequities, and social unrest associated with the monarchy of Belgian King Leopold II (r. 1865–1909). Using caricature,  humor, and the deliberate distortion of form, he lampooned the Belgian monarchy, military, government, and clergy as a pack of bloated, self-satisfied tyrants, sitting, bare-bottomed, on a high wall and emptying their bowels into the open mouths of a ravenous crowd.  Doctrinal Nourishment exposed autocratic rule as little more than a foul diet obediently swallowed by the masses, laying bare not only the brutality of Leopold’s regime, but also the people’s blind willingness to accept it.
This painting reminded me of war and the people around the world struggling everyday for world peace. It wasnt pretty like alot of art but it was real and had a message.