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Paris - Museums -

The culture of France is diverse, reflecting regional differences as well as the influence of recent immigration. France has played an important worldwide role for centuries as a cultural center, with Paris as a world center of high culture.

Since the Jules Ferry laws, the prime minister and Minister of Education, all state-funded schools, including university are free, obligatory and separate from the church.

At the beginning of the 20th century, France was a largely rural country with conservative Catholic morals. In the course of the century, major changes have occurred: the countryside has become largely depopulated, and the population has largely become de-christianized.
This has led to important changes in social morals.

Painting

The Louvre is a very famous art museum created by former emporer, Napoleon Bonaparte. It is located in Paris, France and is, to date, the largest museum in the world.

Before becoming a tourist attraction, it was a royal palace. The first section of the palace was made into a museum in 1793, during the French Revolution. It holds the very famous Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, and Venus de Milo. The first paintings of France are those that are from prehistoric times, painted well over 10000 years ago.

During the times of Charles the Great the arts flourished, as it can be seen in different books of that time, with hand-made illustrations. Classic painters of the 17th century in France are Poussin and Lorrain.

During the 17th century the Rococo style emerged as a continuation of the Baroque style. The most famous painters of the era were Watteau, Boucher and Fragonard. At the end of the century, Jacques-Louis David was the most influential painter of the Neoclassicism. Géricault and Delacroix were the most important painters of the Romanticism.

Afterwards, the painters were more realistic, describing nature (Barbizon school). The realistic movement was led by Courbet and Daumier. The impressionist artists such as Monet were from France. At the turn of the century, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin and Cézanne were painting. Matisse. Cubism is an avant-garde movement born in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century.