The Pulse of Memory and Emotion: An Exploration of Léonce Lemmens's Abstract Expressionism

Léonce Lemmens is an artist whose work stands as a testament to the vitality of contemporary abstract expressionism. She offers us a compelling, if not occasionally unsettling, journey through the landscapes of memory, emotion, and pure sensation. Her paintings are not merely visual objects but energetic manifestations of her intuition, capturing moments that hover just beyond the reach of verbal articulation. In an age dominated by calculated digital visuals, Léonce Lemmens’s raw and gestural style feels refreshingly authentic, almost as if she were pulling us into her emotional orbit. Her canvases pulse with life, communicating through a language of color, texture, and form that speaks to the viewer on a primal, instinctive level.

Léonce Lemmens’s approach to painting is, at its core, a relentless pursuit of the ephemeral. She has spoken of her desire to capture what lies "beyond words or reason," an ambition vividly realized in each of her works. This is not merely abstraction for abstraction’s sake; it is an embodied experience, an unfolding of memory and emotion that materializes on the canvas. Her paintings are as much about process as they are about result—a journey that she approaches with a fearless openness. This willingness to explore without rigid boundaries defines her practice, enabling her to create works that feel as though they are perpetually in motion, caught in a delicate balance between chaos and control.

In “Learn from Yesterday, Live for Today,” Léonce Lemmens’s engagement with color and texture reveals her masterful control over the canvas. The piece is layered with expressive gestures that range from soft, almost whispering brushstrokes to bold slashes of crimson and violet. The composition has an underlying tension; it is as if the past, represented by the darker and more muted tones, is wrestling with the brighter hues of the present. Her use of negative space is striking, allowing areas of the canvas to breathe while simultaneously drawing the viewer's gaze into the densely layered sections. This interplay between absence and presence mirrors the title’s thematic implication—a meditation on memory and immediacy, on holding the past while fully engaging in the present.

“Meant to Be” shifts into a cooler, more subdued palette, dominated by deep blues, blacks, and hints of white. Here, Léonce Lemmens demonstrates her skill in working with limited color, distilling her emotional expression to a concentrated, almost distilled essence. The painting is imbued with a somber, introspective quality, as though it were contemplating the quiet, inevitable nature of destiny. It invites the viewer to slow down, to engage with the piece's contemplative rhythm. Each brushstroke seems measured, purposeful, yet the overall impression is one of fluidity, suggesting a sense of acceptance—a yielding to the forces beyond our control. Léonce Lemmens’s brushwork here is expressive yet contained, her gestures imbued with a subtle tension that holds the viewer in a state of suspended anticipation.

“Ocean Life” introduces a vibrant, almost electric interplay of blues, greens, and white. This painting pulsates with an intensity that recalls the unpredictable nature of the sea itself. Léonce Lemmens’s energetic brushstrokes swirl across the canvas, conjuring a sense of motion and depth, while the layering of color and texture captures the richness and complexity of underwater life. Here, Lemmens’s love for the Mediterranean shines through, as the painting channels the spirit of the ocean—its beauty, its danger, and its mystery. The viewer is transported into a realm that feels both familiar and alien, a sensory experience that borders on the sublime. The painter's ability to evoke such visceral responses speaks to her command over her medium; she is a storyteller who paints not with words but with the rhythm and flow of her brush.

In “Eye on Fellini,” Léonce Lemmens’s mastery of texture and layering is on full display. There is a tactile quality to this work, a roughness that invites the viewer to imagine the sensation of running a hand over its surface. The bold yellows and splashes of fuchsia create a sense of dynamism and exuberance, evoking the cinematic surrealism of Federico Fellini himself. Léonce Lemmens’s layering techniques lend the piece an almost collage-like quality, as though fragments of memory and experience are interwoven into a single, unified vision. It is a tribute to the playful, the vibrant, and the dreamlike—a work that feels both anchored in reality and simultaneously transcendent.

“Sailing to Dubrovnik” sees Léonce Lemmens exploring a more structured, almost architectural composition, yet without sacrificing the fluidity that characterizes her style. The cool, desaturated palette of blues and whites reflects the calm of the Adriatic Sea, capturing a moment of serene contemplation. The painting’s structure suggests a horizon line, perhaps an echo of distant memories of coastal Europe, yet it remains abstract enough to invite multiple interpretations. Léonce Lemmens’s ability to convey such a tangible sense of place through abstract forms is testament to her unique skill in manipulating color and form.

“Carpe Diem” radiates with a feverish intensity, its hot pinks and vibrant yellows battling for dominance over patches of softer grays and whites. This piece is a visual explosion, embodying the spirit of seizing the moment, of living with a sense of urgency. Léonce Lemmens’s brushstrokes here are particularly expressive, their raw energy almost leaping off the canvas. The frenetic quality of this work contrasts sharply with the quiet reflection of some of her other pieces, demonstrating her versatility and her fearless embrace of varying emotional states. This painting feels almost like a manifesto, a declaration of the artist’s ethos of immediacy and boldness.

“Panta Rhei,” named after the ancient Greek aphorism meaning “everything flows,” perfectly encapsulates Lemmens’s approach to art. This work is a meditation on flux, on the ceaseless movement of time and experience. The soft, muted palette of golds and grays suggests an aged, weathered quality, as though the painting itself has borne witness to countless stories. There is an earthy, organic texture to the piece, enhanced by Léonce Lemmens’s deft layering, which gives it a sense of depth and dimensionality. It is a quiet, introspective piece, inviting the viewer to ponder the impermanence of life, the inevitability of change. The painting’s surface feels almost eroded, as though it has been shaped by time itself—a poignant reminder of the beauty to be found in transience.

“Structures in Grey” presents a more formal exploration of shape and structure, a near-monochromatic study that hovers between abstraction and minimalism. Léonce Lemmens’s approach here is restrained, her palette limited to shades of gray, brown, and white. This piece has a deeply architectural quality, its forms suggesting walls, arches, or perhaps ruins. The painting feels timeless, as though it were a relic unearthed from a forgotten past. The texture is rough, the brushstrokes deliberate, conveying a sense of solidity and permanence, even as the work itself remains open to interpretation.

“Carte Blanche” captures the essence of freedom and possibility that defines Léonce Lemmens’s work. The painting is both structured and free, a dynamic interplay of forms and textures that speaks to the artist’s unrestrained approach to creation. The muted whites and pinks evoke a soft, ethereal quality, yet there is a robustness to the composition that grounds the piece. It is a work that speaks to the joy of creation, the thrill of letting go and allowing the painting to lead the way.

“Nothing Happens Without a Reason” is an enigmatic piece that feels imbued with a sense of fate and inevitability. Léonce Lemmens’s handling of dark, almost ominous tones juxtaposed with fleeting patches of light creates a powerful emotional resonance. The painting suggests hidden depths, unseen forces at work, echoing the sentiment of its title. Here, Léonce Lemmens’s work takes on a philosophical dimension, inviting the viewer to reflect on the unseen currents that shape our lives.

In each of these paintings, Léonce Lemmens demonstrates a remarkable ability to channel her inner world into abstract forms that resonate on a universal level. Her work is a vivid exploration of emotion, memory, and intuition, a celebration of both the chaos and beauty of existence. Her brushwork is bold, her use of color instinctual, her approach fearless. She paints not with the intent to depict but to evoke, to reach into the deepest recesses of human experience and translate them onto the canvas. There is an honesty in her work that feels rare, an authenticity that speaks to the heart.

Léonce Lemmens’s art reminds us that abstraction can be as revealing as realism, that the intangible aspects of human experience—emotion, memory, intuition—can be as powerfully conveyed through color and form as through literal depiction. Her work is a testament to the power of painting to communicate that which lies beyond words, an invitation to step into a world where feeling takes precedence over form. In her hands, the canvas becomes not just a surface but a living, breathing entity, an extension of her very being. It is this vulnerability, this willingness to reveal her innermost self, that makes Léonce Lemmens’s work truly extraordinary.

https://www.leoncelemmens.com

Léonce Lemmens

Petra Dippold-Goetz

Jennifer Leigh Harrison