Pulitzer-winner Sebastian Smee relives the remarkable birth of Impressionism from the ashes of
war The perfect Christmas gift for art lovers 'Enjoyable... a fine portrait not only of
impressionism but the society that made it possible' THE SUNDAY TIMES 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. Édouard 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
