[1][2][3] Prior to being based in Malaya and Singapore from the 1950s onwards, Chen often travelled between cities such as Shanghai, Paris, New York and Tokyo,[3] which led to her fluency in English, French[4] and many other languages.

Due to her father's profession, Chen spent her childhood travelling between Paris and China with her family and attending high school in the US.

Chen's father met Sun Yat-sen, the founder of Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) and the first Provisional President of the Republic of China, while aboard the SS Tonkin steamship.

Additionally, one of her works was even acquired by the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris; which was an unusual accomplishment for an Asian artist.

In 1937 when the Sino-Japanese War broke out, the couple moved to Hong Kong, where Eugene was involved in anti-Japanese activities.

[9] At the end of the war, she returned to France, to hold the exhibition on Chinese landscapes, only to find that the curator of the French Museum whom she had made plans with had passed away.

[3] In 1949, Chen held a major solo exhibition at the Asia Institute in New York, presenting paintings of China's landscapes and portraits that she created after the war.

[3] Chen would work there as an art teacher at Han Chiang High School, making many trips to Singapore during this period to visit several of her artist friends based there.

[3] In 1985, a solo exhibition was held at the National Museum Art Gallery in Singapore featuring 172 of her works, and another solo exhibition would be staged at the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia a year later in 1986, which was attended by Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first prime minister of Malaysia.

[13] Apart from donations from the sale proceeds of her house, sales from Chen's personal investments of stocks and shares were also used to fund a new building for the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), as well as for community welfare projects for the local Malay community, and to the Practice Theatre Ensemble (founded by Kuo Pao Kun) to support Chinese theatrical art in Singapore.

[14] Chen is historicised as a significant figure in the development of modern art in Singapore, widely recognised for her achievements as an artist and contributions as an educator.

In 2014, National Gallery Singapore published Eisner-nominated comic artist Sonny Liew's graphic novel, Warm Nights Deathless Days: The Life of Georgette Chen.

[18] On 1 November 2021, Chen would be celebrated in a Singapore and Malaysia-specific Google Doodle coinciding with the 91st anniversary of her first exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in Paris.