Beaux-Arts de Paris (ENSBA)

Overview

The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a public institution of higher artistic education under the supervision of the Ministère de la Culture. Located on rue Bonaparte and quai Malaquais, in the 6th arrondissement, it occupies a remarkable heritage complex (Palais des Études, chapelle des Petits-Augustins, hôtel de Chimay).

The school stands in the lineage of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture founded in the 17th century, and remains one of the most emblematic institutions in the history of art in France. It holds important collections (drawings, paintings, casts, prints, archival holdings) and develops a program of exhibitions in its spaces.

Teaching

The curriculum runs over five years and leads to the DNSAP (diplôme national supérieur d'arts plastiques), conferring the grade of master. Admission is by competitive examination, with possibilities of entry during the course of study.

The pedagogy is based on ateliers d'artistes: each student is supervised by a chef d'atelier, while also moving between technical departments and theoretical teachings (art history, aesthetics, languages).

The practices taught cover painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving and printmaking, photography, video, sound, installation and performance, with specialized workshops (wood, metal, casting, morphology, digital techniques). Architecture, long taught here, was separated from it at the end of the 1960s.

Figures

Among the historic professors: Jean-Léon Gérôme and Gustave Moreau, whose atelier notably welcomed Henri Matisse. More recently, the sculptor Giuseppe Penone taught there.