For over 120 years, the studios on Rue de la Grande Chaumière, in the legendary Montparnasse district, have been home to some of the most famous French and international artists  —Chagall, Giacometti,Foujita,Lempicka, Fernand Léger, Louise Bourgeois, Joan Miró, Zao Wou-Ki, Chaïm Soutine...—as well as the most anonymous ones, who came to sit and practice their timeless art: life drawing, nudes, sketches, charcoal, drawing, oil painting…

It was also here that the Académie Colarossi moved in 1870 to 10 Rue de la Grande Chaumière: this private school and its open studios offered an alternative to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which had become too conservative in the eyes of many artists. Affiliated with the Académie de la Grande Chaumière—which opened in 1904 at number 14—it allowed female students to paint from male nude models. This is howJeanne Hébuterne andCamille Claudel came to attend the life-drawing classes at this institution, which attracted many foreign students, particularly Americans, Scandinavians, and Canadians. Although the Académie Colarossi closed in 1930, its studios have stood the test of time and continued to welcome students and artists until the sale of the studios in 2024. 

The Académie de la Grande Chaumière was the only institution that, at the beginning of the 20th century, paved the way for independent art, allowing all forms and techniques to find expression, thereby freeing its visitors and artists from academic trends that were restrictive not only artistically but also intellectually. In a sense, it was a place of resistance and pure creation.

The Académie de la Grande Chaumière permanently left its historic premises in 2025; it continues to welcome its loyal artists a few hundred meters away.