The Académie Julian is a narrow, four-story building on rue du Dragon with a modest storefront that hides a turbulent history of art education. Founded in eighteen sixty-eight by Rodolphe Julian, it accepted women and foreign students when the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts barred them. Within these walls, masters like William-Adolphe Bouguereau walked the aisles, offering critiques to hundreds of aspiring painters crammed into drafty studios. Henri Matisse once spent a week here before declaring the instruction stifling and leaving for good.
Académie Julian
educational
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