Belgian Pointillist , Circle Of Georges Lemmen: Maternal Tenderness, Huile Sur Toile

his painting is very close to the aesthetic of Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940), but its origins lie more with the Belgian Pointillists. From the late 1880s onward, Belgium became one of the main centers for the dissemination of Neo-Impressionism thanks to the presence of Seurat and Signac at the Salon des XX in Brussels. Van Rysselberghe, Finch, Lemmen, and Anna Boch adopted the divided/pointillist brushstroke after seeing, in particular, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, which provoked both critical scandal and fascination among avant-garde artists.
Our artist signs or designates his model with the inscription E. Wellens. It could instead be the Edouard Willems family, friend and executor of Georges Lemmen's will.
The second photograph shows a very strong analogy with a painting by Georges Lemmen1865-1905 . In his Brussels studio, Lemmen(1865-1916) demonstrate his role as a conduit beyond the strict circle of Pointillist painters. His circle should therefore be understood as a network: the Les XX group, the Neo-Impressionist subgroup (van Rysselberghe, Finch, Boch, van de Velde), and a network of young artists and decorators receptive to Art Nouveau. Van Rysselberghe occupies a more visible and international position (portraits, large luminous scenes), while Lemmen is often perceived as a more intimate figure, whose contribution was decisive in the link between Neo-Impressionism and Art Nouveau. The recent rediscovery of Lemmen on the market (recent record prices for his Pointillist portraits) confirms that he is now recognized as a major master of Belgian Neo-Impressionism rather than a secondary figure.