Académie de la Grande Chaumière

Activities at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière

The Académie de la Grande Chaumière’s activities take place at 2 rue Jules Chaplain, 75006 Paris.

Our phone support is available Monday through Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM and from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM.

Open workshops

Open workshops are held from 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Wednesdays (doors open 30 minutes early).

Classes with teachers

The course runs over two semesters of 45 hours each, for a total of 90 hours per year.
There are still a few spots available until the end of the semester (Saturday, July 4, 2026)
Special offer: €390 for 9 sessions of 3 hours each.

Calendar

April 2026

Classes will be suspended from the evening of Saturday, April 18, 2026, through Monday, May 4, 2026
SPECIAL CLOSURE ON APRIL 20, 2026
Portrait Workshop with Bertrand Desmaricaux on Friday, April 24, and Saturday, April 25, 2026:ONLY 5 SPOTS LEFT!!

Reservations are now open

May 2026

Open on Friday, May 8, 2026, and Monday, May 25, 2026 (Pentecost) for classes and workshops
Spring Life Drawing Marathon: Thursday, May 14, 2026 (Ascension Day)

Reservations are now open

June 2026:

Saturday, June 20, 2026: Music Workshop! (Music Festival)

July 2026 :

Saturday, July 4, 2026: Last day of classes
"Portraits of Characters" Workshop with Marie-Ange Barbet: July 10 and 11, 2026 (details to follow)
Wednesday, July 29, 2026: Last open workshop before the summer break

Full schedule of open workshops: here.

Online registration

Internships:

During school breaks (more informationhere...)

View this week's schedule

A chapter in the history of art

The spirit of creative freedom remains intact, as do the memories of the artists who left their mark on the history of painting: Gauguin, Modigliani, Morher, and André Lhote stayed in the house adjacent to the studio they frequented. In its very early days, when the Academy was located on the Quai des Orfèvres, Delacroix, Manet, Picasso, and Cézanne contributed to its founding. And more recently, artists such as Garouste and Rezvani have come to sketch their works in these places, which were originally small wooden buildings surrounded by gardens and remain almost unchanged today. The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is the only institution that, at the beginning of the 20th century, paved the way for independent art, allowing all forms and techniques to be expressed, thereby freeing its visitors and artists from academic trends that were restrictive not only artistically but also intellectually. It was, in a sense, a place of resistance and pure creation.

A legendary venue at the heart of early 20th-century art.

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 de 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 Grande Chaumière Academy's premises closed in 2025; the Academy continues to welcome its loyal artists a few hundred meters away.

The Grande Chaumière Academy Shop

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