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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSBA) occupies the premises of the former convent of the Petits Augustins, founded in the early seventeenth century on land offered by Queen Margot. This convent, built from 1619 onwards, housed a hexagonal chapel (the "shall of praise") and a cloister, now integrated into the school. After the Revolution, the site became in 1795 the Musée des Monuments Français, created by Alexandre Lenoir to save threatened works, such as the tombs of the kings of France. The museum closed in 1816 under the Restoration, and Louis XVIII assigned the premises to the new School of Fine Arts.

The current school was officially founded in 1817, but its origin dates back to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (1648) and the Academy of Saint-Luc (refounded in 1649). The buildings were thoroughly renovated by the architects François Debret (from 1819) and Félix Duban, which incorporated elements of the castle of Anet and the hotel of Gaillon, saved from the Musée des Monuments français. Duban designed the Palais des Études (completed in 1829) and the honour classes, mixing neoclassical styles and historical re-uses. The school continued to expand in 1883 with the acquisition of the Chimay hotel (17th–15th centuries).

The site is a witness to French artistic education, hosting exceptional collections: 450,000 works (paintings by Poussin, David, Ingres, 20,000 drawings, 3,700 sculptures, etc.), inherited from the royal academies and shipments from Rome. These collections, partially exhibited in the firm Jean Bonna (2005), illustrate the evolution of fine arts since the 15th century. The school, classified as a historic monument in 1972, remains a place of formation and creation, despite controversial transformations (ateliers d'Auguste Perret post-1945, sur elevations of the 1970s).

The company has also been involved in artistic and social reforms. In 1897, after decades of exclusion, women were admitted through the action of Hélène Bertaux and the Union of Women Painters and Sculptors. In 1968, Minister André Malraux separated architecture from fine arts, creating the Units pédagogiques d'architecture (UPA) to modernise teaching. The school celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2017 with the restoration of its buildings and the opening of a museum tracing its history.

The architectural heritage of the site mixes medieval remains (Margot Chapel), Renaissance elements (Anet Façade), and 19th century creations (Melpomène Room, Honorary Course). The protections for historical monuments cover the entire site: classification in 1914 for the façade of Anet, in 1921 for the courses, and in 1972 for the entire school. Despite modern additions (perret workshops, media library of the 1990s), the ENSBA retains a unique stylistic unit, the fruit of its dual monastic and academic history.

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