MOST CELEBRATED FRENCHMEN

EDITH PIAF
Édith Piaf, born Édith Giovanna Gassion in 1915 in Paris, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's national popular singer, as well as being one of France's greatest international stars. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads. Among her songs are "La Vie en rose" (1946), "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "La Foule" (1957), "l'Accordéoniste" (1955), and "Padam... Padam..." (1951).

CLAUDE MONET
Born in 1840, Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise.

COCO CHANEL
Gabrielle "Coco" Bonheur Chanel, born in 1883, was a French fashion designer and founder of the Chanel brand. She was the only fashion designer to appear on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Along with Paul Poiret, Chanel was credited with liberating women from the constraints of the "corseted silhouette" and popularizing the acceptance of a sportive, casual chic as the feminine standard in the post-World War I era. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel?s influence extended beyond couture clothing. Her design aesthetic was realized in jewelry, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5 became an iconic product, one irrevocably identified with The House of Chanel.

ALEXANDRE GUSTAVE EIFFEL
He was a French civil engineer and architect, best known for the world-famous Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, France.