A term used broadly to all painters working in Paris in the 20th century up and until the second world war, the abstract and surrealist painters where the first to protest against this type of classification. Either way the School of Paris is said to have reached its peak between 1920-30. At the time many serious artists in the world felt that it was the only sensible place to be, and felt compelled to live and work in Paris.
The imprecise term can then not be applied to suggest a direction or movement in art, and spans over cubism, fauvism and other main and undercurrents in art at the time. Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Jules Pascin, Chaim Soutine, Marc Chagal and Maurice Utrillo are thus School of Paris artists – allegedly.