Step into the Paris that seduced artists from all over the world — the Paris of your dreams.  We’ll show you around Paris of the 21st century with an eye to the traces of decades and centuries past. Like the bumbling hero in Woody Allen’s clever film Midnight in Paris, you can step through the veil of time and paint yourself into a living reverie.  Let us be your guide while you experience the captivating scenes and mysteries of the City of Light.

We’ll follow the Footsteps of the Artists all around France, and visit resort locations where artists and writers gathered to savor nature and revive their enthusiasm.

Research for Footsteps of the Artists covers four decades of living and walking through French cities and towns.  We’ll start with a particular focus on Paris by visiting the academies and studios of artists who created in the city that is sometimes called everyone’s hometown of the heart and soul.

Make your dream of painting in France come true.  Explore these selected art study opportunities and create your trip.  Studying art in Paris is possible!

Art Study in Paris

Wice,  an Anglophone organization in Paris, offers art history tours, painting classes and French lifestyle orientation for visitors and residents.

Montparnasse was once the heart of alternative living in Paris.  Écoles de Condé, a design and graphic arts academy, provides an innovative avant-garde atmosphere that echoes the the eras that attracted international artists to Montparnasse from the 1880s to the current day.

Led by a faculty of internationally acclaimed artists, the Parsons in Paris program provides entree to galleries and art collections. Continuing education courses offer a chance to study fashion design, illustration or art.  Experience the best of the world’s art capital by attending one-week drawing and painting sessions tailored for adult learners at the Parsons Studios, 14, rue Letellier on the left bank near the Eiffel Tower.

The American University in Paris offers summer art courses for degree and non-degree students.

The Nadaï Advanced School in Decorative Painting offers high quality teaching in decorative techniques such as  faux marble, patina, murals and trompe l’oeil. Courses are taught by accomplished masters and renowned artists, notably Michel Nadaï, designated a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (best fine artist) by the French government. The courses are taught at the  atelier in the bucolic Southwest region of France.

The Painting School of Montmiral offers courses for small groups of serious students at all levels, beginner to professional.  Students work in the medium of their choice.  The school leader — artist Francis Pratt — has done research into how we use our eyes when painting and drawing and has published widely.

Region: Provence – Southern France

Lacoste, now part of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), is a unique artistic community located in the medieval village of Lacoste in the Luberon area of Provence. Lacoste’s faculty are part of SCAD. Teaching assistants and visiting artists are chosen for their ability to share their knowledge, skill and personal attitudes.

The Marchutz School offers courses in Painting, Drawing, and Art Criticism for undergraduates and non-traditional students.  The school’s location in Aix-en-Provence offers incomparable landscapes; this is region where Cezanne lived and painted. Students travel around the region and beyond to take full advantage of the landscape, architecture and museums.

Region: Brittany – Northwest France

The Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art is an international academy of studio arts and art history in the historic artist colony of Pont-Aven in Brittany, on the Atlantic coast west of Paris. Courses focus on the history and avant-garde traditions of the area as well as the ancient standing stones of Carnac.