Captivating

(The incredible Golden Age)

Paris dazzled and delighted the world during this remarkable period. The city was an eclectic hive of activity and advancements, when art, music and technology flowered, breaking tradition and embracing a golden future.

It was Napoleon III who was instrumental in putting France back on the scientific and cultural map. Under his reign, Paris was in the spotlight, hosting incredible world fairs to showcase achievements: the 1889 Exposition Universelle was acclaimed as the single most important event during the Golden Age.

Paris became an inspiring metropolis filled with a vibrant sense that anything was possible. It attracted creative thinkers and intellectuals from far and wide and many artists, such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Matisse, who were unable to afford rent in the more central areas, set up in Montmartre which gained notoriety as a hedonistic and bohemian area. Cafés, cabarets, concert halls, galleries and salons came alive with joie de vivre while the whole city sparkled with confidence and celebration.