When it comes to the arts, France's contribution has been so great that, in many ways, French culture is world culture. Many of these artistic achievements are in the field of architecture, the fruits of which can be enjoyed by visitors to every part of France. Serious architecture in France began around the 1st century B.C. when the Romans began to build monumental triumphal arches, amphitheatres, theatres, and aqueducts throughout southern France.
The styles would be subtly echoed a thousand years later in a style known as Romanesque. This style, largely used in the building of religious structures, the many Romanesque churches still standing in France, are characterised by vaulted ceilings, round arches, and little ornamentation.
By the mid-12th century, a much grander style was taking shape in northern France: Gothic architecture. The next 300 years would see the building of the great cathedrals with their soaring vaults, massive stained-glass windows, flying stone buttresses, and ornamentation ranging from grimacing gargoyles to intricate biblical scenes. As the Gothic period progressed, the embellishment of the cathedrals became increasingly flamboyant as stone carvers learned to simulate motifs such as flames and lace.
In the 15th century, the architectural influence of the Renaissance spread to France from Italy, resulting in the creation of elegant chateaux with richly decorated motifs. Even more lavish architecture and design came with the classic period of the late 16th to 18th century, reaching its apotheosis in the making of the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles. This period also saw the building of impressive citadels and other military fortifications erected to protect the frontiers of France in cities such as Lille and Belfort. The greatest of these were built by France's premier military architect, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban.
An era using geometric lines, Greco-Roman columns, and traditional ornamentation prevailed with neo-classical architecture, which gained favour in France during the mid-18th century and lasted well into the 19th century. Noted examples include the Panthéon in Paris, designed by Germain Soufflot, considered the great neoclassical architect of the 18th century. The building of many great monuments of the era, including the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, was ordered by Napoléon Bonapart. As the 19th century came to a close, the fanciful, curlicued designs of the Art Nouveau movement came into vogue, particularly in the cities of Paris and Nancy. In Paris, the Art Nouveau legacy is evident in everything from métro station entrances to elegant restaurants.
During the last century, the most important architect to emerge was Le Corbusier whose celebrated works include the Ville Radieuse housing complex in Marseille and the Chapelle de Notre-Dame-du-Haut, a surrealistic chapel in the village of Ronchamp in Eastern France. The second half of the 20th century brought a series of grand public projects, including monumental structures in La Défence, a business district on the western edge of Paris, and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Visitors to Paris will also want to take note of such modern landmarks as the Centre Georges-Pompidou, the national art gallery, and La Pyramide, the distinctive glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei at the entrance of the Musée du Louvre.
For many art lovers, France's greatest cultural achievement has been in the world of painting, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1800s many artists began to flock to bucolic villages, such as Barizon outside Paris and Honfleur in Normandy, where they found inspiration for landscapes and scenes of daily life. Artists such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Jean-François Millet were among those artists who formed what became known as the l'Ecole de Barbizon. As the century progressed, artists began to paint in a less realistic style, leading to what became known as Impressionism. These artists, fascinated with the effects of light, include Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and many others.
While Monet's most famous works were inspired by his gardens in the village of Giverny in Normandy, other 19th-century artists, particularly a slightly later group known as the Postimpressionists, did some of their greatest work in the south of France. The Dutch-born artist Vincent van Gogh worked in Arles, as did Paul Gauguin before he set off for the South Pacific. Paul Cézanne is another of the Postimpressionists whose landscapes reflect the colours and scenery of southern France. Other great Postimpressionists include Henri Rousseau, known for his vivid jungle scenes, and Georges Seurat, whose dotlike painting techique became known as Pointillism. While many of these artists focussed on rural scenes, their contemporary, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, became known for his great posters and lithographs depicting Paris café life.
In the 20th century, France, especially Paris, became the epicentre for an ever-evolving series of artistic movements sweeping across western Europe. At the dawn of the century, a group of artists called the Fauves, known for their palettes of intense colours, included André Derain, Henri Matisse and Maurice de Vlaminck. Other artists gravitated to the Cubism movement, launched by Spanish-born artist Pablo Picasso, who did much of his work in France. Other great artists attracted to France were Russian-born Marc Chagall, who created folklore-inspired paintings and stained-glass windows, and Italian-born Amedeo Modigliani. During the 1920s and 1930s, the migration to Paris included a number of artists working in the avant-garde Dada and surrealist modes, including Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp and Max Ernst.
Sculpture in France also has an illustrious history. Early works primarily adorned the great cathedrals, churches and tombs of the nobility, while the 18th and 19th centuries saw the erection of imposing memorial statues throughout France. As the end of the 19th century came the rise of one of the world's great sculptors, Auguste Rodin, whose bronze and marble marsterpieces can be admired at the Musée Rodin in Paris. In the early 10th century, great sculptors working in France included Duchamp, Aristide Maillol and Picasso, while the post-World War II era was heavily influenced by Marseille-born César Baldaccini, known as César, who worked in everything from iron to scrap metal to plastic.
