Paris in Ruins: The Siege, the Commune and the Birth of Impressionism (Hardback) - Sebastian Smee

The untold story of how the disastrous events of the Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune led to the birth of Impressionism

Pulitzer-winner Sebastian Smee relives the remarkable birth of Impressionism from the ashes of war

'Vigorous and enjoyable' DAILY TELEGRAPH

Paris, January 1871 - the final, agonising days of the Franco-Prussian War. As the German army cements its advantage, shells rattle through the Left Bank. It is a bitterly cold winter; there is no fuel, no medicine, no food. The city's poorer citizens have long turned to eating rats, cats and dogs. France has been brought to its knees.

Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas are trapped in the besieged city. Renoir and Bazille have joined regiments outside of Paris, while Monet and Pissarro fled the country just in time. Out of the Siege and the Commune, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. A feeling for transience - reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things - would change art history forever.

This is the extraordinary account of the 'Terrible Year' in Paris and its monumental impact on the rise of Impressionism.

'Smee has a gimlet eye, a seductive style and a novelist's feel for character and incident' NEW YORK TIMES

'Detailed, lively and at times richly novelistic' LITERARY REVIEW

About the Author

Sebastian Smee is an art critic for the Washington Post. He was previously the chief art critic at the Boston Globe, where he won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2011. He has also written for the Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, The Times, FT, Prospect Magazine and Spectator. He is the author of The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art.