Man Reading (1883) is the painting Georges Lemmen is best remembered for. Little Pierre 1 and Portrait of the Artist's Sister (1891) complete the trio of best-loved canvases. Our catalogue counts 84 works by Georges Lemmen. Here are the 82 most famous, with the year, the museum and the story of each canvas.
Ranked by our popularity score, which combines the searches, visits and orders for each work. Updated October 2026. Each painting on this page can be ordered as an oil reproduction painted by hand on linen canvas, or as a fine art print, made to the size you choose.
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 intimate oil painting, titled Woman with cat, the Belgian artist Georges Lemmen captures a quiet moment of domestic repose. The work, which is also known by…
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In the quiet transition between day and night, Georges Lemmen captures a moment of profound serenity in On the beach. This exquisite masterpiece serves as a window into…
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Georges Lemmen's “The Serrys Sisters,” painted in 1894, is more than just a portrait of two young girls; it’s a meticulously crafted meditation on serenity and the fleeting…
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The painting Julie Lemmen Sleeping in an Armchair by Georges Lemmen is a remarkable example of Post-Impressionist art. Created in 1884, this piece showcases the artist's unique style,…
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The Large Tree is a stunning oil on panel painting created by the renowned artist Georges Lemmen in 1904. This artwork is a prime example of Lemmen's mastery…
Bring this light home from $178 →The four subjects that return most often on these canvases, each with its best-loved 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 |
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…
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…
Man Reading (1883), followed by Little Pierre 1 and Portrait of the Artist's Sister (1891).
Georges Lemmen, born in 1865, was 18 years old: Man Reading dates from 1883.
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. Each canvas in the ranking above comes with its year and its museum.
84 works by Georges Lemmen are in our catalogue, dated 1883 to 1913.
Mostly in Musée d'Orsay (Paris), Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (Cologne) and Indianapolis Museum of Art (Indianapolis); the list above names each museum and its canvases.
In 1900s, which gave 29 of the 82 works on this page, Portrait of Emile Verhaeren among them.
The earliest canvas here is Man Reading (1883); the latest is Madame Lemmen in a Flowery Interior (1913).
Women (16), Interior (5) and Portrait (5), across the 82 works on this page.
Oil On Canvas, used in 5 of the 82 works on this page.
Post-impressionism, as the canvases on this page show.
The Musée d'Orsay, Paris holds 3 of the works on this page, among them Woman with cat, On the beach and The Thames. the Elevator.
Yes. Every painting on this page can be ordered from its own page as an oil reproduction painted by hand, or as a fine art print, in the size you choose.
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.
