Les Beaux-Arts de Paris

A former private mansion with a singular charm thanks to its period paintings, drawings and engravings, it is quite natural for us at the Hôtel des Saints Pères to invite you to discover the major works of the greatest art school in France.

An exceptional location

The École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts remains the largest art school in France. Its origins date back to the royal academies founded by Louis XIV around painting, sculpture, engraving and architecture. These academies were abolished for a time by the government of the Convention in 1793 and merged into a single institution under the First Empire. The École des Beaux-Arts was then created in 1819. Initially housed in the rooms of the Louvre, then in the Institut de France, the institution found its current location in 1829 on Rue Bonaparte, in the heart of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district. The school enjoys a remarkable location with :

• Art galleries
• Proximity to the Institut de France
• An ideal location near a large number of museums
• Artists/teachers of a high quality
• A location in a dynamic district, favourable to encounters and exchanges between art lovers

The collection and the works

The École des Beaux-Arts, located in the immediate vicinity of the Hôtel des Saints Pères, is the last institution to offer courses and to house works accumulated over the past centuries. Its rich heritage comes from the Royal Academies, the work of its students and private donations. The 450,000 works in the school offer a broad panorama of the history of art in France and the Beaux-Arts style. The school houses paintings by Poussin, Van Dyck and Fragonard, drawings by Dürer and Veronese, architectural drawings, engravings and photographs, to name the main works. The permanent collection is interspersed with regular exhibitions in the heart of the building.