Updated November 2026 · ranked by our popularity score (searches, visits and orders for each work) · 84 works by Georges Lemmen in our catalogue
In short
To the gallery's eye, Georges Lemmen's most famous painting is Man Reading (1883). Little Pierre 1 and Portrait of the Artist's Sister (1891) complete the trio every eye recognises. Of the 84 works by Georges Lemmen in our catalog, the gallery presents the 82 most famous below, each original with its year, its museum and what makes it unique.
The room holds its breath as a man loses himself in the printed word. He sits slightly off-center, his body leaning into the soft glow of a lamp that spills light across the pages of his newspaper. This light does more than illuminate; it carves his features out of the surrounding shadows, catching the curve of a hand and the focused tilt of a head. The atmosphere feels heavy with…
The portrait focuses on a young boy, identified by the title as Pierre, positioned centrally within the frame. He wears a large, circular red hat that occupies the upper half of the composition, acting as a heavy visual anchor against the lighter elements of the scene. Below the hat, his face is rendered with soft contours, his gaze directed slightly off-center toward an unseen point. He is dressed in a…
The artwork titled Portrait of the Artist's Sister is an oil on canvas painting by the Belgian artist Georges Lemmen. Created in 1891, this piece focuses on a single subject, depicting a young woman in a formal portrait composition. The sitter is positioned within a medium shot, shown from the waist up against a textured backdrop.
In this quiet scene from about 1883, Georges Lemmen captures a woman seated in a moment of domestic stillness. She is focused on her task, her hands moving through the rhythmic labor of knitting. The subject sits within a space defined by the soft textures of her clothing and the steady presence of her chair. A sense of solitude settles over the room, anchored by the repetitive motion of the…
Woman in Street Clothes is a portrait painted by Georges Lemmen. The subject of the work is a woman dressed in everyday street clothes. This oil on canvas composition focuses on the woman's face and upper body, presenting her in a bust format. The figure is positioned facing forward against an indistinct, blurred background that suggests an interior setting.
A seated figure occupies the center of this 1887 oil on canvas, positioned slightly off-center to disrupt a static symmetry. The subject gazes outward from a chair, his expression one of quiet melancholy and deep contemplation. Behind him, a window provides a source of diffused light, casting soft gradations across his face and clothing. The background remains indistinct, where two faint figures appear near the window frame, adding a layer…
The sun hangs low in the sky, casting a warm, golden glow across a coastal expanse where the sea meets the shore in a rhythmic dance. At this moment, the tide is rising, pushing the water toward the sand in a slow, deliberate advance. Tiny, distinct dots of color dance across the canvas, building a mosaic of light that mimics the shimmering surface of the North Sea. Figures gather on…
The Carousel by Georges Lemmen captures a moment of motion and color. Painted in 1896, the work presents two women riding horseback through an ornate architectural setting. The scene is dense, layered with geometric shapes and organic forms that suggest a sense of movement. It is a stylized depiction, prioritizing expressive color over the strictures of realistic representation.
A profile view captures a man in a moment of quiet introspection. The composition focuses on the head and shoulders, positioned slightly off-center to create an intimate sense of presence. A stark white collar provides a sharp point of contrast against the muted, earthy tones of the surrounding palette. Shades of ochre, brown, grey, and deep blue define the subject, while soft, diffused light enters from the front left, casting…
Young Woman with Cherries is an oil on canvas painting by Georges Lemmen. Created about 1905, the work captures a quiet, contemplative moment within a domestic setting. A young woman sits at a table, her presence anchored in a space of stillness and private thought.
The Dressmaker1900
12
Two Women in an Interior1903
13
The Milliner1901
14
Sleep1900
15
Sleeping1906
16
Woman and Child1907
17
Woman with Bared Breast1907
18
The Nap1906
19
Woman with cat1900 · Musée d'Orsay
20
On the beach1891 · Musée d'Orsay
21
Self Portrait1884
22
Low tide at coast near Heyst1891 · Wallraf-Richartz-Museum
23
Coast at Heyst1891 · Wallraf-Richartz-Museum
24
Factories on the Thames1892
25
Houses at La Hulpe1888
26
Heyst No. 19: Clear Night, Moon1891
27
Carnival: The Carousel1890
28
The Thames. the Elevator1892 · Musée d'Orsay
29
Seated Woman1898
30
Girl with Doll1904
31
The Conversation (also known as Two Woman in an Interior)1903
32
The Talk (also known as Two Women in an Interior)1904
33
Seated Young Woman in a Blue Hat1904
34
Tea (also known as Madame Gaorges Lemmen)1902
35
Madame Gaorges Mellen and Lise (also known as The New Baby)1904
36
Woman Standing in Front of the Mirror (also known as Madame Georges Lemmen)1902
37
Nude Female ModelFinnish National Gallery
38
Portrait of Gregoire Le Roy
39
Head of a Girl in profile to the left
40
seated Nude
41
The Artist's Father
42
Bust of a Young Girl
43
Milliner
44
Portrait de jeune fille
45
Sitting Nude on Chair
46
Seated Woman 1
47
Portrait of Jan Toorop
48
Square in an Ancient City
49
The Syrene
50
Young Woman Sewing
51
Self Portrait
52
Self Portrait 3
53
Rooftops1906
54
Three Little Girls1907
55
Little Pierre
56
Saint Marie Church1908
57
Madame Lemmen1908
58
Young Girl in White1907
59
Picking Fruit (No.2)1906
60
Flowers and Apples1909
61
Hat with a Red Ribbon1908
62
The Fan1907
63
Family Gathering in Saint-Idesbald1910
64
Young Woman Seated in an Interior1908
65
Madame Lemmen in a Flowery Interior1913
66
The Serrys Sisters1894 · Indianapolis Museum of Art
67
Houses (Maisons)Indianapolis Museum of Art
68
Study For The Meuse, in the Evening
69
Landscape in winter
70
Courbevoie. Factories by Moonlight
71
Digue rounded advancing into the sea
72
View of the Thames
73
Autumn
74
Landscape with the church of Dadizeele in the distance
75
Neyst No.9. The Beach
76
Poppies
77
Vase of Flowers
78
Still Life with Fan
79
Still Life with Fruit
80
Woman in Profile
81
Julie Lemmen Sleeping in an Armchair1884
82
The Large Tree1904
The four subjects that come back most often in these originals, each with its finest example.
The 7 museums that hold the most of the paintings on this page.
| Museum | City | Works by Georges Lemmen | Paintings from this list |
|---|---|---|---|
 Musée d'Orsay |
Paris | 3 | Woman with cat, On the beach, The Thames. the Elevator |
 Wallraf-Richartz-Museum |
Cologne | 2 | Low tide at coast near Heyst, Coast at Heyst |
 Indianapolis Museum of Art |
Indianapolis | 2 | The Serrys Sisters, Houses (Maisons) |
 Art Institute of Chicago |
Chicago | 1 | Portrait of the Artist's Sister |
 Plantin-Moretus Museum |
Antwerp | 1 | Portrait of Emile Verhaeren |
 Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK) |
Ghent | 1 | Young Woman with Cherries |
 Finnish National Gallery |
Helsinki | 1 | Nude Female Model |
Pick a decade to see the original that defines it.
The room holds its breath as a man loses himself in the printed word. He sits slightly off-center, his body leaning into the soft glow of a lamp that spills light across the pages of his newspaper. This light does more than illuminate; it carves his features out of the surrounding shadows, catching the curve of a hand and the focused tilt of a head. The atmosphere feels heavy with…
The artwork titled Portrait of the Artist's Sister is an oil on canvas painting by the Belgian artist Georges Lemmen. Created in 1891, this piece focuses on a single subject, depicting a young woman in a formal portrait composition. The sitter is positioned within a medium shot, shown from the waist up against a textured backdrop.
A profile view captures a man in a moment of quiet introspection. The composition focuses on the head and shoulders, positioned slightly off-center to create an intimate sense of presence. A stark white collar provides a sharp point of contrast against the muted, earthy tones of the surrounding palette. Shades of ochre, brown, grey, and deep blue define the subject, while soft, diffused light enters from the front left, casting…
Man Reading (1883). Little Pierre 1 and Portrait of the Artist's Sister (1891) come next.
18 years old: Man Reading dates from 1883, and Georges Lemmen was born in 1865.
Man Reading, Little Pierre 1, Portrait of the Artist's Sister, The Knitter, Woman in Street Clothes, Self Portrait, Heyst No. 3: High Tide, The Carousel, Portrait of Emile Verhaeren and Young Woman with Cherries. The ranking above gives each one's year and museum.
Our catalog holds 84 works by Georges Lemmen, dated from 1883 to 1913.
Mostly in Musée d'Orsay (Paris), Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (Cologne) and Indianapolis Museum of Art (Indianapolis). The museum table above lists them all.
In 1900s: 29 of the 82 works on this page were made then, Portrait of Emile Verhaeren among them.
On this page, the earliest is Man Reading (1883) and the latest Madame Lemmen in a Flowery Interior (1913).
Women (13), Woman (12) and Interior (8), across the 82 works on this page.
Oil On Canvas, for 17 of the 82 works on this page.
Post-impressionism, judging by the originals on this page.
Woman with cat, On the beach and The Thames. the Elevator: the Musée d'Orsay, Paris holds 3 of the works on this page.
In the vibrant tapestry of late nineteenth-century European art, few threads shimmer with as much scientific precision and poetic grace as those woven by Georges Lemmen. A pioneer of Belgian Pointillism, Lemmen occupied a unique space where the rigorous observation of anatomy met the ethereal beauty of light. Born in Schaerbeek, Belgium, in 1865, his early life was shaped by an unusual intersection of disciplines. His formative training at Saint George’s Hospital in London provided him with a profound understanding of human anatomy—a skill honed alongside his contemporary, Helen Lemmens. This medical foundation did not merely inform his anatomical accuracy; it instilled in him a lifelong fascination with the structural essence of his subjects, allowing him to approach the canvas with the eye of a scientist and the soul of a dreamer.
As the nineteenth century drew to a close, the art world was undergoing a radical metamorphosis, moving away from the rigid constraints of academic realism toward the experimental frontiers of Neo-Impressionism. Lemmen became a central figure in this revolution through his membership in Les XX (The Twenty), Belgium's most influential avant-garde collective. Within this circle of rebels and visionaries, Lemmen embraced the revolutionary technique of Pointillism. Inspired by the theories of Georges Seurat, he mastered the art of Divisionism, applying minuscule, distinct dots of pure color side-by-side. This method relied on the viewer's eye to optically mix the pigments, creating a breathtaking illusion of luminosity, vibration, and depth that traditional brushstrokes could never achieve.
The true brilliance of Lemmen’s work lies in his ability to translate the fleeting sensations of nature into permanent, structured masterpieces. His approach to landscape was never merely descriptive; it was an exploration of atmosphere. In his most celebrated magnum opus, "The Beach at Heist", one can witness the pinnacle of his Pointillist mastery. The painting captures the North Sea not as a static body of water, but as a living, breathing entity. Through a meticulous orchestration of color, he recreates the hazy, salt-misted air and the shimmering reflection of light upon the waves, inviting the viewer to feel the very humidity of the Belgian coast.
Beyond the expansive horizons of his landscapes, Lemmen possessed a tender ability to capture intimacy. His works often transitioned from the grand scale of nature to the quiet, domestic moments of human existence. In pieces such as "Julie Lemmen Sleeping in an Armchair," the artist demonstrates how his technical precision could serve emotional depth. Here, the Pointillist technique softens, creating a dreamlike quality that mirrors the stillness of sleep. This duality—the ability to command both the vastness of the sea and the delicate silence of a room—is what defines his unique contribution to the Belgian art canon.
As the movement progressed, Lemmen’s style evolved alongside the shifting cultural tides, eventually touching upon the flowing, organic aesthetics of the Art Nouveau movement. This transition showcased his versatility as an artist capable of adapting scientific precision to the decorative elegance of a new era. His work remains a vital link between the structured experiments of Neo-Impressionism and the fluid beauty of modern design.
The historical significance of Georges Lemmen extends far beyond his individual canvases. He represents a pivotal moment in art history when the boundaries between science, anatomy, and aesthetics dissolved. His legacy is found in:
Today, Lemmen’s work continues to captivate collectors and historians alike, serving as a luminous reminder of a time when art sought to decode the very physics of light to reveal the hidden beauty of the world.
