established the place of French art and Paris as the international centre of Modern Art.
Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionist artists, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, inspired the modern art movements of the early 20th century.
Context
The period 1871 to 1914 in France was known as the Belle Époque. The Franco-Prussian war had ended the Second Empire and brought
down Napoleon III. The defeat humiliated France, especially with the loss of the south-eastern states of Alsace-Lorraine to a new united German Empire.
There followed a succession of short-lived governments, but standards of living greatly increased for the upper and middle classes. There was also huge growth and innovation in the arts, sciences and engineering.
Paris developed especially rapidly at the start of the 20th century and grand railway stations like the Gare d’Orsay were works of art in their own right. Modern engineering marvels also saw the opening of a new subway system on 14 July 1900 (Fig. 14.1).
Figure 14.1 (left) The Paris Métro opened in 1900.
