Tachisme (alternative spelling: Tachism, derived from the French word tache–stain) is a French style of abstract painting popular in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often considered to be the European equivalent to abstract expressionism. It was part of a larger postwar movement known as Art Informel (or Informel), which abandoned geometric abstraction in favour of a more intuitive form of expression, similar to action painting. Another name for Tachism is Abstraction lyrique (related to American Lyrical Abstraction). COBRA is also related to Tachisme, as is Japan's Gutai group.

After World War II the term School of Paris often referred to Tachisme, the European equivalent of American abstract expressionism. Important proponents were Jean-Paul Riopelle, Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Soulages, Nicholas de Stael, Hans Hartung, Serge Poliakoff, Georges Mathieu and Jean Messagier, among several others. (See list of artists below.)

According to Chilvers, the term tachisme "was first used in this sense in about 1951 (the French critics Charles Estienne and Pierre Guéguen have each been credited with coining it) and it was given wide currency by [French critic and painter] Michel Tapié in his book Un Art autre (1952)."

Hans Hartung (21 September 1904 – 7 December 1989) was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style. He was also a decorated World War II veteran of the French Foreign Legion.

Hartung was born in Leipzig, Germany into an artistic family. He developed an early appreciation of Rembrandt, German painters such as Lovis Corinth, and the Expressionists Oskar Kokoschka and Emil Nolde. In 1924 he enrolled in Leipzig University, where he studied philosophy and art history. He subsequently studied at the Fine Arts academy of Dresden, where he copied the paintings of the masters. The modern French and Spanish works he saw in 1926 at the Internationale Kunstausstellung in Dresden were a revelation to him, and he decided that he would leave his native country to prevent succumbing to provincialism. Consequently, after a bicycle trip through Italy, he moved to Paris.

In Paris Hartung had little contact with other artists, and copied the works of old and modern masters. He visited the south of France, where the landscape inspired him to a close study of the works of Cézanne, and he developed a great interest in principles of harmony and proportion such as the golden section. In 1928 he visited Munich where he studied painting technique with Max Doerner. In 1929 he married the artist Anna-Eva Bergmann and established himself in the French towns of Leucate, and then in the Spanish Balearic Islands, eventually settling in Minorca. He exhibited for the first time in 1931 in Dresden.

François Bayle (born 27 April 1932, Toamasina, Madagascar) is a composer of Musique concrète or acousmatic music.

In the 1950s he studied with Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Schaeffer and Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 1960 he joined the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française, and in 1966 was put in charge of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM). In 1975, the GRM was integrated with the new Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) with Bayle as its head, which post he held until 1997. During these years he organized concerts, radio broadcasts, seminars and events celebrating individual composers, supported technological developments (Syter, GRM Tools, Midi Formers, Acousmographe) and was behind innovations such as the Acousmonium and the INA-GRM recordings label.

After leaving GRM in 1997, he founded his own electronic music studio, the Studio Magison, where he has devoted himself to research, writing and composition.

In the world of electronic art music, Bayle is regarded is one of the most distinguished composers; his influence is widespread (particularly in France, Europe and French-speaking Canada) and his music has earned some of the most prestigious musical prizes (SACEM Grand Prize for Composers, 1978; National Record Grand Prize, 1981; Ars Electronica Prize, Linz, 1989; City of Paris Grand Prize for Music, 1996; Homage by the CIME of São Paulo, 1997; Charles Cros Presidential Grand Prize, 1999). 18 CDs entirely of his music have been released, an exceptionally large number for one composer in the annals of electronic art music. French director Jérémie Carboni is working on a documentary with the composer.

Jean Fautrier (May 16, 1898 – July 21, 1964) was a French painter and sculptor. He was one of the most important practitioners of Tachisme.

He was born in Paris. Given his unwed mother's surname, he was raised by his grandmother until her death in 1908, when he went to live with his mother in London. In 1912 he studied at the Royal Academy of Art. Unsatisfied by instruction he thought too rigid, he left to study briefly at the Slade School, which he also found disappointing. The works he saw in the Tate Gallery made a far greater impression on him; he especially admired the paintings of J. M. W. Turner. He first exhibited his paintings at the Salon d'Automne in 1922 and at the Fabre Gallery in 1923. His first solo exhibition was at the Galerie Visconti in Paris, in 1924.

In 1927, he painted a series of pictures (still lifes, nudes, landscapes) in which black dominates, and in 1928 he began work on a series of engravings for an illustrated edition of The Divine Comedy of Dante, prepared by Gallimard (which did not succeed). Until 1933 he divided his efforts between sculpture and painting. Short on funds, he spent the years 1934–1936 living in the resort of Tignes, where he made his living as a ski instructor and started a jazz club.

Henry Le Jeune A.R.A (12 December 1819 – 5 October 1904) was an English painter of landscapes, genre, literary and biblical scenes. He became well known for his genre paintings of children.

Henry Le Jeune was born in London, the son of Anthony Le Jeune, a professional musician of Flemish origin, and the third of five children. After showing an early interest in art he was encouraged by his family to study the art collections in the British Museum.

In 1834 Le Jeune was admitted to the Royal Academy where, after winning 4 silver medals in succession, he won a gold medal in 1841 for the biblical painting "Samson Bursting his Bonds" (exhibited the following year at the British Institution). He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1840 with a work entitled "Joseph Interpreting the Dream of Pharaoh's Chief Butler".

From 1845-48 he taught at the Government School of design at Somerset House, and from 1848-64 was curator and instructor at the Royal Academy. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1863 and an honorary retired associate in 1886.