French Art History and Sitemap

French art consists of the visual and plastic arts (including French architecture, woodwork, textiles, and ceramics) originating from the geographical area of France.

Modern France was the main centre for the European art of the Upper Paleolithic, then left many megalithic monuments, and in the Iron Age many of the most impressive finds of early Celtic art.

The Gallo-Roman period left a distinctive provincial style of sculpture, and the region around the modern Franco-German border led the empire in the mass production of finely decorated Ancient Roman pottery, which was exported to Italy and elsewhere on a large scale.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Jeune fille en rose dans un paysage, 1903

Henri Martin | Neo-Impressionist / Symbolist painter

Henri Martin was born in Toulouse on 5 August 1860; his father was a cabinetmaker and his mother of Italian origin.

In 1877, after convincing his father with great difficulty, he enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse, and studied with Jules Garipuy.

Two years later he was awarded a prize and a scholarship that enabled him to join Jean-Paul Laurens's workshop at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe | Presenza / Presence

Tutto è annuncio di te!

Appare il sole radioso, e tu dietro a lui, spero.

Esci fuori in giardino e sei rosa fra le rose,

e sei giglio fra i gigli.

Alessandro Zezzos | Genre painter

Alessandro Zèzzos (Venice, 1848 - Vittorio Veneto, 1914) was an Italian painter of genre scenes, costume scenes, portraits and vedute, in watercolors and oils.

He studied under Giacomo Favretto, Alessandro Milesi and Luigi Nono at the Academy of Fine Arts in his native Venice.

Marcel Dyf | Impressionist painter

Marcel Dyf (1899-1985) was a celebrated French painter often considered one of the last true Impressionists.

He is best known for his light-filled landscapes of Provence and Brittany, as well as intimate portraits of his wife, Claudine.

In his youth he showed a marked ability for painting.

At the age of twenty-three he took the step of becoming a professional artist and devoted himself entirely to painting.

Norma Mascellani | Metaphysical naturalism painter

Norma Mascellani (1909-2009) was a celebrated Italian painter whose career spanned a full century of artistic and social change in her native city of Bologna.

A student of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna, she was mentored by prominent figures such as Giorgio Morandi, Alfredo Protti and Giovanni Romagnoli.

Marcel Dyf and his muse, Claudine

French painter Marcel Dyf (1899-1985) painted still-life scenes of flowers, gardens and pastoral scenes, but his true passion lay in portraiture.

Noted for his portraits, his inspiration for many compositions often came from his wife Claudine who posed for him and allowed him to immortalize the spirit of womanhood.

His wife, Claudine, became a frequent subject of his work.

Zerone Birti, 1988 | Abstract painter

Zerone Birti was born in Brussels, Belgium where he now lives.

From his early observations of life around him as a child to the now ever developing artwork, the same drive and focus animates his swift hand and sharp stance.

Movement interwoven into a knot that loosens before the eyes.

Those words seem to encapsulate his art.

Rodrigo Zaniboni | Impressionist painter

Rodrigo Zaniboni is a Brazilian painter from the São Paulo countryside.

His brushstrokes have a contemporaneous, realistic style reminiscent of the Impressionists.

Zaniboni uses a very particular palette to emphasize the correct use of the color scale, and the technique of painting by layers is one of his strongest skills; he uses the technique in his routine work and considers it one of the most important activities for artist.