Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer (1865-1953)

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer was a French Symbolist/Art Nouveau artist whose works include paintings, drawings, ceramics, furniture and interior design. In 1896 he exhibited his first pastels and paintings under the name Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer; he’d added the last two syllables of his mother’s maiden name (Goldhurmer), likely to differentiate himself from other people named Lévy.

His paintings soon became popular with the public and among fellow artists as well. He earned high praise for the academic attention to detail with which he captured figures lost in a Pre-Raphaelite haze of melancholy, contrasted with bright Impressionist colouration.

His portrait of writer Georges Rodenbach is perhaps the most striking example of this strange and extraordinary synergy. After 1901 Lévy-Dhurmer moved away from expressly Symbolist content, incorporating more landscapes into his work because of his travels in Europe and North Africa. He continued to draw inspiration from music and attempted to capture works of great composers such as Beethoven in painted form.