Impressionism is the name given to the artistic movement that changed art forever. Beginning in the 1860s in France, Impressionism was considered a radical break with tradition.1 Through the work of artists including Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and Edgar Degas, Impressionism was born. The Impressionists painted outdoors and focused heavily on light and its reflection. They painted quickly on prepared white canvas with short visible brush strokes and placed separate colors next to each other while letting the viewer's eyes mix them. (Techniques not common in art at this time) As for the subject, they again broke with tradition and painted whatever they wanted, including the modernity of Paris and the daily lives of its citizens. This newfound freedom regarding subject matter along with unconventional techniques greatly displeased the École des Beaux-Arts, where academic artists would work on subjects such as history, kingship, and mythology.2 In contrast to the Impressionists, their work had a smooth, varnished finish, showing little to no evidence of the artist's presence. Having introduced Impressionism, in this essay I aim to analyze why the city of Paris is at the center of the Impressionist movement. Firstly looking at how Paris helped create the Impressionist movement and secondly how Paris fueled it. Paris is vital to the Impressionist movement as all of the major Impressionist artists mentioned above were born or lived in Paris. A significant artist who broke with tradition in his work was Manet. Manet, born in Paris, is today considered the father of impressionism. He began his artistic career by studying with the academic painter Thomas Couture3 and then opened his own studio in 1856 where he experimented less with the medium of paper......impressionism. We see that without Paris and its artists there would have been no break with the traditions and norms established by the École des Beaux-Arts and Le Salon. Without Paris the movement would not have achieved the recognition it did. He was aided by the industrial revolution, the Haussmann project, the growth of the café and the trading profits of the Parisian art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel. We also note how Paris was very influential in the subjects of Impressionist paintings. We see how the camera and color theory influenced their work, as well as how the modern urban landscape and social interactions consumed their creations. Even today Paris plays a role in impressionism. Its museums host some of the greatest examples of period Impressionist works on display, proving that nearly two centuries later Paris is still at the heart of Impressionism.