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 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
