In 1895, he met Charles Cottet and became a member of his Bande noire or "Nubians", along with Dauchez, René-Xavier Prinet, Edmond Aman-Jean and Émile-René Ménard, employing the principles of Impressionism but in darker tones.

[4] He was one of the founding teachers at Martha Stettler and Alice Dannenberg's Académie de la Grande Chaumière in 1902.

Paul Simon [fr] (1892–1979), the son of Lucien and Jeanne (who was also a painter), was a noted animal sculptor.

[6] A portrait of Lucien Simon, painted by Charles Cottet in 1907, hangs in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

In 2002 there was an exhibition at the Galerie Philippe Heim in Paris devoted to the work of Paul, Lucien and Jeanne Simon.