From 11 April to 30 August 2026, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) invites visitors into the vibrant world of Belgian modernism with ‘A Red that Sings. Masterpieces by Ensor, Wouters and Schmalzigaug’. Drawing on the museum’s renowned collection and enriched by exceptional loans, the exhibition explores how artists around 1900 transformed colour into a dynamic, almost sensory force—one capable of conveying emotion, rhythm and movement.
“Perhaps you have seen Rubens’ ‘The Adoration of the Magi‘ in Antwerp. I know of no Impressionist painting with red that sings as the red in King Melchior’s cloak.” In 1914, Antwerp artist Jules Schmalzigaug wrote these words to Umberto Boccioni, a leading figure of Italian Futurism. For Schmalzigaug, colour was never mere decoration, but an intensity—something that could almost be heard.
This idea forms the core of ‘A Red that Sings’, an exhibition that reveals how colour can resonate, collide and move, turning painting into a near-musical experience.
At its heart, the exhibition brings together three major Belgian colourists in an unprecedented dialogue: James Ensor, Rik Wouters and Jules Schmalzigaug. Each developed a distinct visual language, from Ensor’s imaginative worlds to Schmalzigaug’s Futurist compositions and Wouters’ intimate interiors.
United in their ambition to move beyond Impressionism’s subdued palette, they embraced bold, expressive pigments. Their colours do not merely describe – they whisper, shout, hum and resonate, engaging both the eye and the senses. Within this rich interplay, red emerges as a recurring leitmotif, interacting with deep blues, vivid greens and luminous yellows.
“The KMSKA boasts the largest collections of works by Ensor, Wouters and Schmalzigaug. A Red that Sings therefore offers a unique opportunity to display their work together so explicitly for the first time and to reveal the connections between these artists. Thanks to a number of remarkable loans, this dialogue is further deepened”, Luk Lemmens, Chair of KMSKA vzw, says.
The exhibition opens with Peter Paul Rubens’ ‘The Holy Family with the Parrot‘ (1614–1633), positioning Rubens’ characteristic red as an early and influential reference point. From there, it traces a lineage of experimentation, showing how artists such as Henri De Braekeleer and Adolphe Monticelli explored freer, more resonant uses of colour. Their innovations inspired later modernists, including Wouters, who famously delighted in the “tiny vermilion whatsits” of De Braekeleer’s work. The exhibition also highlights this artistic cross-pollination through works by Jean Brusselmans, Willem Paerels and Louis van Lint.
“Throughout the centuries, red has always captured the attention of both artists and the public. It is a colour that leaves no one indifferent. It draws the eye, directs the gaze and evokes emotions. With A Red that Sings, the KMSKA invites visitors to rediscover the compelling power of colour”, Carmen Willems, general director of KMSKA vzw, says
The exhibition also explores the notion that colours can be experienced as sound, a concept closely linked to the phenomenon of synaesthesia, in which multiple senses are stimulated simultaneously. This idea has fascinated artists since the 19th century and finds vivid expression in the work of Ensor, Wouters and Schmalzigaug, whose paintings were sometimes described by critics as “symphonies of colour”.
Beyond painting and drawing, ‘A Red that Sings’ extends into music and contemporary installation. A screening of Alexander Scriabin’s 1915 composition Prometheus demonstrates this interplay, with shifting coloured light accompanying the music. The exhibition further emphasises the role of rhythm and movement in modernist art, where flowing arabesque lines and varied brushstrokes create a palpable sense of energy. This visual language parallels developments in music, notably in the work of Claude Debussy, who similarly explored the expressive potential of the arabesque.
“What connects these three artists is their masterful command of rich pigments and rhythmic arabesque lines. In their paintings, pigments are not static matter, but musical forces: a vermilion red that cries out, a blue that chimes, a yellow that shrieks and a green that resounds. In ‘A Red that Sings’, colour and line merge into an almost musical experience”, Adriaan Gonnissen, curator of ‘A Red that Sings. Masterpieces by Ensor, Wouters and Schmalzigaug’, says.
In the lead-up to the exhibition ‘Antony Gormley. Geestgrond‘, parts of the museum, including the Gallery Light and the Ensor halls, have been transformed into temporary exhibition spaces for the first time since the museum’s reopening in 2022.
This intervention allows for an expanded presentation of works from the Modern Masters collection within ‘A Red that Sings’. From the end of May, the exhibition will extend into a fifth gallery, featuring the immersive installation ‘Rainbow‘ (2019) by Nazanin Fakoor.
To enhance accessibility, visitors with red-green colour blindness can borrow EnChroma glasses at the exhibition’s information desk. An accompanying catalogue, published by Hannibal Books, will further explore the themes of the exhibition. ‘A Red that Sings‘ has been made possible with the support of the Flemish Government and the Bank of Breda.
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