Siene River

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It has inspired some of mankind's most revered artists and has witnessed and played a role in many of history's great events.  It has for centuries carried commerce for a nation and a continent.  The Seine always will be considered one of the great rivers of the world. 

Its source is in the Burgundy region southeast of Paris.  From there the Seine dips into the Champagne region and travels through Troyes, a vital regional trading post up to and including the Middle Ages.  In Paris, the river surrounds the Île de la Cité, the island cradle of French civilization that it helped protect from invading Huns and Norsemen.  The Seine also separates Paris into the Rive Gauche (Left Bank) and Rive Droite (Right Bank).   From the Paris Basin, the Seine enters the Normandy region, making great loops as it heads toward Rouen.  After Rouen, the river takes a few more north-to-south turns before reaching its mouth at the city of Le Havre and combining with the waters of the English Channel. 

While it's possible to estimate the Seine's influence on France's development, calculating the sum of its influence on the arts is considerably more difficult. Impressionist painters including Monet, Renoir, and Pissarro went outdoors to analyze the interplay of light, color, and the reflection and refraction of sun on water.  The Seine valley provided ample material, inspiring portrayals of the river and its tributaries, canals, barges, and forests.