This application emerges from ‘The summit of sentimental affirmation’, the research project in which we explored the artistic universe of Paul van Ostaijen (1896-1928) and the connection between Flemish musical modernism and other artistic disciplines. In this research project we aim the spotlight on a character that is strikingly prominent in modernist art and music, the ubiquitous but hitherto sparsely researched character of the harlequin.
Concentrating on August Baeyens’ ballet ‘Arlekijn’ (1924) and ‘De vrolijke dood. Arlequinade in 1 act’ (1923) by Karel Albert, we draw the portrait of the modernist harlequin, in its complex guise at the intersection of atonal music, free verse and abstract art. Like ‘The Summit of Sentimental Affirmation’, this research is auxiliary to a music theatre production we are preparing for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen for the season 2027-2028 (the centenary of Van Ostaijen’s death). In this production, the harlequin will play a seminal role in the story: as an element of connection and subversion. Together with teachers and students from Royal Conservatoire Antwerp and Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, we will also undertake a quest for the twenty-first-century harlequin.
James Ensor, ‘Theater van de maskers’. Wikimedia Commons.
Update: March 2025
