Art Market Sensation: Niche Painter's Painting Sold for a Fortune!

A 19th-century portrait by a little-known Belgian painter has become a sensation at Sotheby's New York auction. Georges Lemmen's work, estimated at just $70,000, has sold for nearly $700,000. How did this happen?

Undervalued for decades, it now breaks records. An 1890 portrait by Georges Lemmen , offered at Sotheby’s in May, achieved a staggering $698,500 —more than ten times its estimate. The work had been initially estimated at $50,000–$70,000 .

The biggest surprise is that until recently, the Belgian neo-impressionist remained in the shadow of the great masters. So why the sudden interest in his work? Is it just a passing fad, or perhaps the harbinger of a new trend on the art market?

Painting Jeune femme faisant du crochet, Georges Lemmen, 1890, private collection / Sotheby's website

Although Georges Lemmen (1865–1916) rarely appears in art history textbooks on a par with Seurat or Signac, he was a key figure in the Belgian Neo-Impressionist movement . A member of the avant-garde group Les XX, he created works that combined the rigorous technique of pointillism with the emotional depth of portraiture . His work—although often focused on scenes of everyday life—was intimate in its own unique way. One such painting is " Jeune femme faisant du crochet ," depicting Julie Frédérique Lemmen, the artist's sister, crocheting.

How can such a spectacular price increase be explained? The contemporary art market is not just about aesthetics, but a sophisticated investment arena where undiscovered gems count. Experts have long been paying attention to the trend whereby collectors are increasingly looking for non-obvious investments: works of undeniable artistic value , but still undiscovered by the mass market. Lemmen fits perfectly into this trend – he was an active participant in a key moment in the history of painting, developing pointillism in an intellectual spirit, but with a clear emotional sensitivity.

What's more, the painting had not been available on the market before , and its excellent state of preservation and provenance (purchased in 1960 at the New York gallery Hirschl and Adler, and since then it has remained in the same family) made it unique.

In addition, the portrait came with an irrevocable purchase offer, meaning the sale was guaranteed even before the auction began. As a result , the auction attracted more than a dozen serious bidders —including a museum, two dealers, and five private collectors.

Moreover, the emotional power of the portrait – a woman lost in quiet concentration, captured in an almost therapeutic act – resonates today with the desire for intimacy, nostalgia and authenticity.

The phenomenon we witnessed during this auction is part of a broader trend in the art market: a growing interest in " second-rate artists " who witnessed the birth of artistic movements but did not achieve iconic status.

Lemmen was at the heart of Pointillism , directly inspired by Seurat – and although he has remained in the shadow of more famous artists to this day, his style, subtlety and psychological depth are beginning to be recognised anew.