The term ‘fin de siècle’ usually refers to the end of the 19th century, in Europe, France and/or Paris. It is most commonly associated with French artists, especially the French symbolists, and was affected by the cultural awareness characteristic of France at the end of the 19th century. However, the expression is also used to refer to a European-wide cultural movement. The ideas and concerns of the fin de siècle influenced the decades that followed and played an important role in the birth of modernism.  In a broader sense, the term is used to characterise anything that has an ominous mixture of opulence and/or decadence, combined with a shared prospect of unavoidable radical change or some approaching ‘end’.