Gustave Lemaitre (1860–1945) Female Nude Post-impressionist Circa 1900 Art Nouveau

In this intimate painting, Gustave Lemaitre offers a subtle and refined vision of the female nude, emblematic of early 20th-century French painting. The model, shown from behind and reclining on light-colored sheets, adopts a pose that is both natural and elegant, imbued with suggestion and modesty.

The flesh is rendered with great delicacy, using a palette of rosy and pearly tones shaped by a soft, enveloping light. The blended and controlled chromatic transitions reveal genuine pictorial skill. The background—a subdued interior in blue-green hues—is enlivened by a few decorative elements (a door, a painting, a vase of flowers), which structure the space without distracting from the main subject.

Through its silent and contemplative atmosphere, this work fully belongs to the intimate post-impressionist aesthetic, intended for a bourgeois clientele sensitive to an elegant and restrained sensuality. The original carved period frame further enhances the presence and decorative quality of the ensemble.

Seductive and representative of Gustave Lemaitre’s work, this painting is an excellent example of French nude painting from the Belle Époque, combining charm, balance, and refinement.

This oil on canvas is in very good condition; the pastel colors remain fresh.
The period Art Nouveau frame shows a few minor losses.

Canvas dimensions: 55 × 38.5 cm
Frame dimensions: 70 × 53 cm

Gustave Lemaitre (1860–1945)

Gustave Raymond Pierre Lazare Lemaitre was born on April 26, 1860, in Marseille, France. From an early age, he turned toward the arts and received a solid academic training: after studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, he continued his education in Paris under renowned masters such as Alexandre Cabanel, William Bouguereau, and Tony Robert-Fleury—leading figures of late 19th-century French academic teaching.

Lemaitre exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artistes Français, the principal official artistic event of the period, from 1882 to 1913, attesting to his integration into the Parisian art world of his time. He notably won the Marie Bashkirtseff Prize, an award recognizing young talent and enhancing his reputation among contemporary painters.

From 1910 onward, Lemaitre settled in Algiers, North Africa, where his work took on an Orientalist dimension. He exhibited with the Société des Artistes Algériens et Orientalistes until 1921 and produced numerous landscapes, scenes of local life, and Maghreb views inspired by the region’s luminous atmosphere.

His oeuvre is characterized by great diversity: alongside landscapes and Orientalist subjects, he also explored portraiture, genre scenes, and occasionally nude compositions, always displaying strong command of drawing and light inherited from his academic training.

Gustave Lemaitre died in Algiers in 1945, leaving behind a body of work representative of a transitional moment between academic tradition and an openness to Mediterranean themes and colors.

Photographs were taken in natural light.
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