The School of Paris refers to a phenomenon: the presence of artists from around the world who settled in Paris from the 1900s through the 1940s.

The term "School of Paris" was popularized by art critic André Warnod, first in an article in the magazine "Comoedia" published in 1924, and then in his book "L’École de Paris, les berceaux de la jeune peinture" published in 1925 by Albin Michel.

Of all nationalities, they arrived from Eastern Europe, Central Europe, China, Japan, the United States, and across Europe, all driven by the same desire to see their artistic careers flourish in Paris, the world capital of the arts. Amadeo Modigliani came from Italy, Pablo Picasso from Spain, Foujita from Japan, Mela Muter and Eugène Zak from Poland, Marc Chagall and Chaïm Soutine from Belarus, Nicolas Millioti and Georges Annenkov from Russia, Alexandre Altmann and Samuel Granowsky from Ukraine, Josef Sima and Toyen from the Czech Republic, Willy Eisenschitz and Lilly Steiner from Austria, Félix Varla and Vera Pagava from Georgia, David Peretz and Nicolas Taneff from Bulgaria, Milivoy Uzelac from Croatia, Milan Konjović from Serbia, Michel Simonidy and Iosef Iser from Romania.

Two major phases of artist immigration to Paris during the first half of the 20th century can be identified. Before World War I, artists such as Léopold Gottlieb, Tadé Makowski, Henri Hayden, Louis Marcoussis, Alice Halicka, Jules Pascin, Moïse Kisling, François Eberl, Othon Coubine, Marc Chagall, Chaïm Soutine, Amadeo Modigliani, and Pablo Picasso settled in Paris. Some first settled in Montmartre on the Right Bank, then the Montparnasse district and La Ruche on the Left Bank became their preferred territory.

After World War I, a second wave of immigration occurred. In the 1920s, artists such as Sigmund Menkes, Alfred Aberdam, Joachim Weingart, Joseph Hecht, Sigmund Landau, Józef Czapski, Jacques Chapiro, Esther Carp, Alice Hohermann, Sava Choumanovitch, and Vera Pagava arrived in Paris. The Russian Revolution of 1917 drove a significant number of Jewish people into exile, persecuted and victims of pogroms, and many artists arrived in Paris during this time.

Note that some artists settled in Paris at the very end of the 19th century, from the 1880s-1890s, such as Olga Boznanska, Ladislas Slewinski, Jozef Pankiewicz, Anna Bilinska, and David Ossipovitch Widhopff.

Attracted by Paris, these artists sought artistic novelty and dreamed of freely leading their lives and careers. Montmartre, La Ruche, and the Montparnasse district were their havens. These artists came to Paris drawn by the artistic effervescence that reigned there. Numerous renowned schools and painting academies were established in Paris, allowing them to begin or continue their training. Paris also stood out for its highly structured system of artistic recognition, based on Salons, art dealers and patrons, influential galleries, as well as a dynamic press and art criticism. The richness of French art and the many avant-garde movements born there attracted numerous artists in search of creative freedom. Artists established in Paris also traveled throughout France. Seduced by the authenticity of Brittany and the light and diversity of southern landscapes, artists traveled particularly through Brittany, Normandy, the French Riviera, and the Southwest.
Major players in the artistic scene of their time, these artists mostly participated in the great Parisian Salons (Salon d’Automne, Salon des Indépendants, Salon des Tuileries), exhibited in renowned galleries such as Galerie Zak, Weil, or Druet, and continued, for the most part, to present their works in their home countries as well as internationally through solo or group exhibitions.