Cover art · garden

The Garden of the Rousseau Family

James Ensor (Belgian, 1860–1949), 1885.

The Garden of the Rousseau Family
The Garden of the Rousseau Family — Cleveland Museum of Art

Using it on a cover

The print file prints up to 9.1 x 11.3 in at 300 ppi — enough for a full 6 x 9 in front cover. Wider than a 6 x 9 cover: crop about 18% of the width, or use it as a wraparound across back and spine.

About the work

This painting depicts the garden of the artist’s close friends Ernest and Mariette Rousseau, with whom he often stayed at their home in Brussels, Belgium. He rendered this view of their garden in a technique of bold color applied with strong, broken brushstrokes. It is not known whether Ensor painted this work from life or memory, but the garden, empty of people, hints at feelings of social alienation, a dominant theme in his work.

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Sources & data