The genre painter and etcher René Mendes-France was born in Paris in 1888. He exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants from 1920, which he soon left to found the Salon des Surindépendants in 1929. As a painter he was one of the driving forces behind 'musicalism'. The busy street life of the Bel Epoque constantly provided him with food for painting. His landscapes are also known.