International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts Palais and Petit Palais, and on both banks of the Seine. There were 15,000 exhibitors from twenty different countries, and it was visited by sixteen million people during its seven-month run. The "Style Moderne" presented at the Exposition later became known as "Art Deco", after the name of the Exposition. The idea for an exhibition entirely devoted the decorative arts originally came from the Société des Artistes Décorateurs (The Society of Decorative Artists), a group founded in 1901 which included both established artists, including Eugene Grasset and Hector Guimard, as well as younger artists including Francis Jourdain, Maurice Dufrêne, Paul
Napoleon III style not an admirer of the Empire, as "the opulent bastard child of all the styles.". The best example was the Opéra Garnier, begun in 1862 but not finished until 1875. The architect was Charles Garnier (1825-1898), who won the competition for the design when he was only thirty-seven. When asked by the Empress Eugénie what the style of the building was called, he replied simply, "Napoleon III." At the time, it was at the time the largest theater in the world, but much of the interior space was devoted to purely decorative spaces: grand stairways, huge foyers for promenading, and