The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Académie Colarossi.

[1][2] From 1909, the Académie was jointly directed by painters Martha Stettler, Alice Dannenberg, and Lucien Simon.

[3] The school, which was devoted to painting and sculpture, did not teach the strict academic rules of painting of the École des Beaux-Arts, thus producing art free of academic constraints.

[4] One attraction was the low fees, even lower than those of the Académie Julian (which had to be paid in advance).

It still operates under its original name, and provides two free workshops, one for painting and drawing, the other for sketches, as well as evening classes.