French art consists of the visual and plastic arts including French architecture , woodwork, textiles, and ceramics originating from the geographical area of France. Modern France was the main centre for the European art of the Upper Paleolithic , [ citation needed ] then left many megalithic monuments, and in the Iron Age many of the most impressive finds of early Celtic art.
The Gallo-Roman period left a distinctive provincial style of sculpture, and the region around the modern Franco-German border led the empire in the mass production of finely decorated Ancient Roman pottery , which was exported to Italy and elsewhere on a large scale.
With Merovingian art the story of French styles as a distinct and influential element in the wider development of the art of Christian Europe begins. Ornamental beads, bone pins, carvings, as well as flint and stone arrowheads also are among the prehistoric objects from the area of France.
Speculations exist that only Homo sapiens are capable of artistic expression, however, a recent find, the Mask of la Roche-Cotard βa Mousterian or Neanderthal artifact, found in in a cave near the banks of the Loire River , dating back to about 33, B.
In the Neolithic period see Neolithic Europe , megalithic large stone monuments, such as the dolmens and menhirs at Carnac , Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens and elsewhere in France begin to appear; this appearance is thought to start in the fifth millennium BC, although some authors speculate about Mesolithic roots. In France there are some 5, megalithics monuments, mainly in Brittany, where there is the largest concentration of these monuments.
