From 1900 to 1939, avant-garde artists like Picasso , Modigliani
and Chagall , came to Montparnasse to create. They were joined by poets and writers
( Apollinaire , Max Jacob , Andre Breton , Jean Cocteau , Ernest Hemingway , F.
Scott Fitzgerald ) and russian political exiles ( Lenin , Trotsky ). It's the
golden age during which Montparnasse leads the artistic and literary world. After
World War II, bohemian life becomes so fashionable that it falls victim to its
own success, with a rich and exhibitionist crowd chasing away the artists. At
the time of construction, it was the highest building in Europe . The construction
of La Grande Arche at La Défense places the tower in a second line of perspective
across Paris : see Axe historique. Today's Montparnasse is a modern business area
dominated by the 209 meters high Montparnasse tower, which is the ideal spot to
savour a drink while admiring, from the bar, Hotel Nouvel Orleans or the observation
deck, the dream-like Paris landscape.
