Paris in Ruins The Siege, the Commune and the Birth of Impressionism

Pulitzer-winner Sebastian Smee relives the remarkable birth of Impressionism from the ashes of war'Enjoyable... a fine portrait not only of impressionism but the society that made it possible' THE SUNDAY TIMESParis, 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.***'Vigorous and enjoyable' DAILY TELEGRAPH'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

Product details

• Authors: Smee Sebastian, Sebastian Smee
• Publisher: Oneworld
• Content: Book
• Product form: Paperback / Softback
• Publication date: 18.09.2025
• Subject: Non-fiction book
• EAN: 9781836430797
• ISBN: 978-1-83643-079-7
• Pages: 370
• Dimensions (packing): 12.7 x 19.8 x 3 cm
• Subjects: Belle Epoque, Manet, Van Gogh, Monet, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, Degas, Art History, France, European History, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical, Biography: historical, political & military, Flaubert, HISTORY / Modern / General, HISTORY / Europe / General, Renoir, ART / History / General, HISTORY / Social History, ART / Techniques / Drawing, Social & cultural history, Fin de Siecle, ART / History / Modern (late 19th Century to 1945), ART / Techniques / Painting, zola, seurat, c 1800 to c 1900, Moulin Rouge, Impressionist, Bazille, History of Art, Mallarmé, Courbet, Social and cultural history, Paris (City), Painting & paintings, Drawing & drawings, Pissarro, Individual artists, art monographs, Impressionism, Biography: historical, political and military, Drawing and drawings, Paintings and painting, Art & design styles: Impressionism & Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, French History, Berthe Morisot, Franco-Prussian War, c 1871 to c 1914 (Belle Époque period), Edmond de Goncourt, toulouse lautrec, Graham Robb Parisians, The Judgement of Paris Ross King, The Fall of Paris Alistair Horne, The Private Lives of the Impressionists Sue Roe, Émile Zola’s “La Debacle, Jonathan Harr The Lost Painting