Rene Emmanuel Janssens was born on January 1, 1870 in Brussels, Belgium. He was a painter of interiors, portraits and landscapes. He was also a watercolorist and a lithographer. Janssens was also a successful author and art critic.

He studied at The Brussels Academy from 1885-1892 with the famed artist, Jean-Francois Portaels. He also studied with Pierre Victor Galland at the Paris Academy of Arts.

Janssens exhibited quite successfully at the important Belgium venues in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. He also exhibited at the “Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He received an honorable mention at the Paris World’s Fair in 1900.

In 1893, he co founded the influential art group, “Le Sillon.” He was also elected as a full member of The Royal Academy of Belgium in 1934.

As an author and art critic, Janssens published “Les Peintres del’Intimite”in 1934 and “Les Maitres de la Critique d’Art en France et en Belgique” in 1935.

He died in Ixelles in 1936.

Today, his works can be found in private and public collections, including in the Musee d’Orsay, Paris and in Gent, Brussels, Antwerp and Ixelles, Belgium.