The concept of "Paris School" was introduced into use by the French critic Andre Varno (in 1925), uniting under this name both French masters and artists who came to Paris from abroad (in most cases from Eastern Europe, the Russian Empire, and later the USSR) who lived in France from 1900 to the 1960s.

The School of Paris was not a single movement or institution, but reflects the importance of Paris as a center of Western art in the first decades of the 20th century. Between 1900 and 1940, the city attracted artists from all over the world and became a center of artistic activity. The term "Paris School" was used to describe this free community.

The most important basis of art for the majority of foreigners who came to Paris turned out to be expressionism. However, the language of expressionism was individual for each representative of the Paris School.

There are three main periods of change, each of which is a manifestation of the renewal of the previous one. The first period spans from 1900 to the 1920s, the second covers the interwar period, and the last refers to the period after World War II.

Historian and art historian Adrian M. Darmon notes that the term "Parisian School" was used prior to World War I by some newspapers when they pointed out avant-garde tendencies opposed to German Expressionism.

In the first period from 1900 to the First World War, an influx of artists emigrated to Paris, often from Central Europe (and including the territory of modern Belarus), who settled mainly in Montparnasse. Among them are Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Pinkhus Flint, Chaim Soutine, Pascin, Amadeo Modigliani, Kees van Dongen, Moise Kisling, Alexander Archipenko, Joseph Chaki, Osip Zadkine and Tsuguharu Fujita. The war of 1914–1918 soon dispersed them from Paris all over the world; many volunteer for the French army.

The interwar period saw the arrival of other female artists (especially Russians such as André Lanskoy, Serge Poliakoff, Alexander Garbell) and saw the emergence of new stylistic trends such as abstraction as well as the importance of color in painting. As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, artists fleeing Nazi Germany arrive in Paris: Moses Bublik, Ezekiel David Kirzenbaum and Jacob Markiel.

Post-war period, until about 1960, the "New School of Paris" or "Second School of Paris" refers to a group of contemporary artists who primarily devoted themselves to abstract painting. Many of these artists were representatives of lyrical abstraction and tachism, often the "New School of Paris" is also synonymous with the tachism used. The School of Paris was also the title of a series of contemporary art exhibitions in Paris.