Ecole de Paris

Ecole de Paris – The School of Paris is not an art movement or style but instead marks the significance of Paris as the centre of modern art. Many artists including Pablo Picasso were drawn to Paris and spent most of their working life there. Paris is also the root of significant art eras including Cubism, Post-Impressionism and Fauvism. Ecole de Paris was also used as a name before the twentieth century in medieval times as a mark of the significance of art in Paris, referring to the group of manuscript illuminators in the Romanesque and Gothic periods of art.

There were three main stages of the Ecole de Paris which were interrupted by the wars, 1900-1918 the period before and during the war, 1918 – 1939 which is referred to as the interwar period where Neo-classicist and Expressionist art became wildly popular. The third period was after the Second World War, 1945-1960 where the frustration of the wars was expressed in new waves of art including Lyrical Abstraction, and new materials were used including acrylic paint.

Gradually the Ecole de Paris has faded, even though there are still artists within Paris, however the end of the twentieth century saw artists travelling to different sections of the world thanks to the increase in transportation and technology. However, Paris was, and still is, the centre of Fashion for the world, with designers such as Coco Chanel and Paul Poiret dominating design and transforming the silhouette across the world.