Beaux-Arts, École des

Beaux-Arts, École des, Paris. The chief of the official art schools of France. Its origins go back to 1648, the foundation date of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (see academy), but it was not established as a separate institution until the Académie was dissolved in 1793, during the administrative reforms of the French Revolution. It moved to its present site, in the rue Bonaparte, in 1816. The École des Beaux-Arts controlled the path to traditional success with its awards and state commissions, notably the prestigious Prix de Rome, and teaching remained conservative until after the Second World War. Entry was difficult—among the artists who failed were Rodin and Vuillard—and students often preferred the private académies. Many progressive artists, however, obtained a sound technical grounding there—Degas, Manet, Matisse, Monet, and Renoir all attended classes. The École, which is housed in a complex of early 19th-century buildings, has a large and varied collection of works of art. Many of them are primarily of historical interest (including a vast number of copies and portraits of teachers), but the collection of drawings is of high quality.