George Morren - Seated nude

Nude study, pastel on cardboard. Signed above right Morren. Freshly framed behind glass.
Georges Morren was a Belgian painter, sculptor and decorative artist, born in Antwerp. He came from a prosperous bourgeois family and was therefore able to devote himself exclusively to art without financial worries. Encouraged by Emile Claus, a friend of the family, he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp; however, he left after a short time, because he disliked the conformist teaching methods.

In 1888 he moved to Paris, where he attended the studios of Alfred Roll, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Eugène Carrière. He began working in an Impressionist style and turned to a Neo-Impressionist style around 1890 as a means of giving light a more solid form. In February 1892 he returned to Antwerp, where he took part in the activities of avant-garde groups, notably Als ik Kan, L'Association pour l'Art, La Libre Esthétique and Eenigen, of which he was a founding member in 1902. In these circles he exhibited regularly in the company of Neo-Impressionist painters such as Claus, Georges Lemmen, Théo Van Rysselberghe, Henry Van de Velde, Paul. Signac and Seurat. In 1904 he and Claus became members of the group Vie et Lumière.