Galerie Paul Prouté

Georges Lemmen is one of the leading figures of Belgian Post-Impressionism. A self-taught artist, he made a name for himself early on in the Brussels avant-garde scene when he joined the Group of XX, founded by Octave Maus, in 1889. During this period, Lemmen turned toward Neo-Impressionism and adopted the Pointillist technique, which he discovered and explored in depth, particularly through his regular participation in the Salon des Indépendants in Paris between 1889 and 1893. There, he moved in Neo-Impressionist circles and absorbed their explorations of color and light. In the late 1890s, his interest shifted toward the decorative arts. He thus created posters, illustrations, objects, and decorative projects, before gradually returning to painting around 1900, in a freer and more synthetic style, influenced by the Nabi movement.
From this period onward, Lemmen’s art took on a more intimate character, centered on daily life and family. His preferred subjects became his wife and children, depicted in tranquil interiors. As Madeleine Octave Maus writes, the result is “a discreet flowering of intimate art, imbued with a spirit of observation that is at once gentle and keen—a quality unique to him.”