Puvis de Chavannes was a pivotal figure of 19th century modernism. His works still adorn public buildings in Paris today. Their classical-inspired allegorical themes recall a timeless pre-industrial past. His style incorporates fragments of the new and the old and achieves the transcendent effect as well as his goal. Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse and Picasso recognized him as a visionary and, in turn, admired the new generation of anti-academics. In his public commissions he focused on themes that appealed to the French government but he also supported and guided avant-garde artists and his work evolved in tandem with theirs. Puvis was one of the few academics of any period who was able to see change coming and adjust to it - the sign of a truly great mind.