a stained glass window
by artist Marc Chagall
The French have produced beautiful and influential work in literature, architecture, painting, and cinema. Well known French authors of novels, plays, and poetry include Molière, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. The French have always strived for architectural excellence, and have been influenced by such innovative approaches as Swiss architect, Le Corbusier. His clean, severe, modernist approach had a huge influence on French buildings in the early twentieth century.
Since the Middle Ages, France has had a central role in European painting. Paris, in particular, has attracted artists from all over the continent. France is also famous for leading the way in fashion.
Photo by David Hughes courtesy of France magazine
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