It's a cliche. A young American drops out of school or quits a promising career to go to Europe and pursue art. The artist's free life calls. Some have actually done it. Between the World Wars, Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, Stein and all their comrades lived in Paris, starving and honing their craft. Some became famous, and some came home and joined the family business. James Baldwin later worked in France, and Stanley Kubrik worked in England. Even before the Lost Generation though, Americans came to Europe to paint. These are some of the American expatriate painters:

James McNeil Whistler, 1834-1903, dropped out of West Point. He became one of the leading exponents of "art for art's sake" and a member of Oscar Wilde's circle. His subtle Arrangement in Gray and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, popularly called Whistler's Mother, was purchased by the French government and hangs in the Musee d'Orsay. He painted many other wonderful scenes of Paris, Venice, and London. Whistler believed that the central purpose of a painting was to be an arrangement of shapes and colors, rather than to tell a story. For this reason, he is considered a father of abstract art. He is buried in Chiswick, London.

Mary Cassat, 1845-1926, had a hard time getting started as an artist. Her prosperous family did not approve of her life choices, although she was allowed to attend art school and live in Paris, and she had trouble supporting herself with her art. Finally, Edgar Degas invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists in 1877. She became a respected member of that group, which she stayed with until about 1886. She gradually moved away from the Impressionist style, and became involved with the mother-and-child themed paintings and prints on which her fame chiefly rests. After a career of increasing success, in later life she became nearly blind from cataracts. She died in a chateau near Paris, and is buried in France. There is a charming self-portrait of her in New York's Metropolitan Museum.

Thomas Eakins, 1844-1916, attended the same art school as Mary Cassat, the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. Later he taught there, and was the school's director for a while. In between, he painted in Spain and in Paris, where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. His paintings are vigorous and realistic, often taking as their subjects sports, medicine, or family life. As a teacher, he encouraged students to paint from life, and to use photography as a tool. Eventually Eakins

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