Podcast appearances and mentions of Sebastian Smee

Decades after a brazen art theft drove Merry White's father to despair, federal agents closed in on the missing work. For White, the search is personal.Read more:Merry White is the daughter of a Harvard professor who was close friends with painter Jackson Pollock. White's parents came to own several of the painter's artworks, and one hung over White's bed when she was a child. It was stolen in 1973, along with two other paintings by Pollock. The theft destroyed White's father's peace of mind, and left White with complicated feelings.On this weekend episode of “Post Reports,” art critic Sebastian Smee reconstructs the provenance and theft of these precious works of art. Audio production and original music by Bishop Sand, with help from Sean Carter.Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

THE 1874 EXHIBITION AND THE BIRTH OF IMPRESSIONISM Colleague Sebastian Smee. In the spring of 1874, a group of painters including Degas, Monet, Pissarro, and Renoir gathered at the studio of the photographer Nadar to exhibit their work outside the established "Salon" system. This group, organizing themselves as the "Société Anonyme," had grown tired of the Salon's hierarchical preference for large-scale history and religious paintings over landscapes and contemporary life. The movement received its name from a critic who wrote a parody of the exhibition, seizing upon the title of Claude Monet's painting, Impression, Sunrise, to mock the work as unfinished sketches lacking structure or deep meaning. While photography existed, these painters sought to tell the story of their times through a revolutionary style that defied convention. Notably absent from this founding exhibition was Édouard Manet, the group's "blood brother" and inspiration, who still believed success required acceptance within the official Salon. NUMBER 1 1849 MONET

THE ARTISTIC AND ROMANTIC BOND BETWEEN BERTHE MORISOT AND ÉDOUARD MANETColleague Sebastian Smee. Berthe Morisot and her sister Edma were talented painters from a haute bourgeois family who successfully exhibited at the Salon, though society expected them to eventually prioritize marriage over art. In 1869, the unmarried Berthe met Édouard Manet at the Louvre, leading to a complex relationship that resembled a Jane Austen novel. Manet, struck by Berthe's dark, Spanish features, asked her to pose for his painting The Balcony. Although Manet was married to Suzanne—a Dutch pianist he had wed under complicated circumstances involving a hidden son—he and Berthe engaged in a mutual flirtation. Their families became close, attending weekly soirées together, but Manet's marriage remained an impediment to any romantic union with Berthe. Despite the social restrictions requiring chaperones, Manet's influence drove Berthe's artistic development, just as her presence influenced his work. NUMBER 2 1872

POLITICS, WAR, AND THE REPUBLICAN SPIRIT OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS Colleague Sebastian Smee. Édouard Manet was a passionate Republican who loathed the authoritarian rule of Napoleon III, a sentiment rooted in his witnessing the 1848 uprising and his travels to Rio where he saw the horrors of slavery. His political activism influenced the Impressionist circle, who were all Republicans. Manet frequented cafés to discuss politics with figures like Léon Gambetta, a moderate Republican leader navigating the tensions between monarchists and radicals. The group's optimism was tested by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870; following the Emperor's defeat at Sedan, a Republic was declared, but Paris was soon besieged by Prussian troops. The war touched the artists directly: the painter Bazille died in combat, and Alfred Sisley painted landscapes on the banks of the Seine that had recently been bloody battlefields, creating art that contemporaries recognized as scenes of trauma. NUMBER 3

THE RISE OF THE PARIS COMMUNE FOLLOWING THE SIEGE Colleague Sebastian Smee. By March 1871, following a winter of starvation where Parisians ate rats and zoo animals, the city's radical Republicans revolted against the provisional government. The radicals, frustrated by the government's failure to break the Prussian siege and the subsequent humiliating surrender terms, seized cannons and established the Commune. This new government aimed for localized, democratic control but was viewed by the national government, now retreated to Versailles under Adolphe Thiers, as an insurrection. The Commune was libertarian and progressive but faced immediate isolation. Having survived the Prussian siege, the Communards now found themselves besieged by French government forces, setting the stage for a brutal civil conflict where the "brother fought brother" narrative of the 19th century would reach a violent climax. NUMBER 4 1890

THE DEVASTATION OF BLOODY WEEK AND MORISOT'S RESOLVE Colleague Sebastian Smee. In May 1871, French government forces retook Paris during "Bloody Week," a period of atrocity where summary executions were rampant and the streets "ran red with blood." In response, Communards burned major landmarks, including the Tuileries Palace and the Hôtel de Ville. Manet, though absent during the final violence, created a lithograph depicting the execution of Communards as an indictment of the government's brutality. Berthe Morisot witnessed the destruction firsthand; rather than deterring her, the trauma of the "Terrible Year" strengthened her resolve to become a professional artist, a radical decision for a woman of her class. While many were executed or exiled to New Caledonia, Morisotchanneled the instability of the era into her work, emerging from Manet's shadow to become a distinct and innovative painter in her own right. NUMBER 5 1893

PLEIN AIR PAINTING AND THE IMPRESSIONIST FOCUS ON THE PRESENT Colleague Sebastian Smee. The Impressionists revolutionized art by painting en plein air (outdoors), prioritizing the sincerity of what they saw in front of them over the carefully composed conventions of the studio. They sought to capture fleeting effects of light and color with directness. Berthe Morisot applied this "sincerity" to domestic and threshold spaces, using loose brushwork to convey the fragility and transience of life—a sensibility likely heightened by the recent political trauma. Interestingly, the Impressionists largely avoided painting the physical ruins of Paris, unlike conservative artists who used such imagery for political rhetoric. Instead, they engaged in a form of psychological repression or optimistic looking-forward, choosing to depict the beauty of contemporary life and the resilience of the present moment rather than dwelling on the destruction of the past. NUMBER 6 1914

MANET'S FINAL YEARS AND THE POSTHUMOUS HONOR OF MORISOT Colleague Sebastian Smee. Following the war, Manet painted a series of intimate portraits of Berthe Morisot, capturing her erotic restlessness and "black" mourning attire. Since they could not marry, Manet seemingly facilitated her marriage to his brother, Eugène, who became a supportive husband and advocate for her art. While Morisot struggled with melancholy, she defied Édouard's advice to stick to the Salon, instead exhibiting in almost all the independent Impressionist shows. After Édouard died a painful death from syphilis, and Berthe later passed away, her colleagues Renoir, Monet, and Degasorganized a posthumous exhibition in her honor. The depth of their respect was revealed in a passionate argument between Degas and the others over how best to hang her work to ensure the public understood her brilliance. NUMBER 7

JULIE MANET, THE VALUE OF TRANSIENCE, AND THE AVANT-GARDE Colleague Sebastian Smee. Berthe Morisot's legacy was carried on by her daughter, Julie Manet, to whom Berthe wrote a tender deathbed letter expressing that Julie had provided her solely with happiness. Morisot's work exemplifies the concept of "transience value"—the idea, later articulated by Freud, that the fleeting nature of beauty makes it more precious. Her paintings of adolescents and domestic scenes celebrated the present moment precisely because it was always changing. While the next generation of the avant-garde, such as Van Gogh and Munch, reacted against Impressionism's lack of structure, they built directly upon its liberation of color. Although these newer artists sought more permanence, the Impressionist dedication to capturing fugitive effects proved to have lasting power, validating Morisot's vision of finding profound truth in the ephemeral. NUMBER 8 1925

May 1871: Bloody Week and Morisot's Transformation Into a Professional Artist. Sebastian Smee discusses how the Commune began to fall when French government forces returned to retake the city, resulting in Bloody Week in May 1871. The civil conflict was atrociously violent, with the Communards retreating street by street and systematically burning important Parisian buildings. The atmosphere was toxic, resulting in summary executions on a massive scale. Berthe Morisot and her family witnessed the smoke and were stunned by the devastation upon returning. The traumatic events had a profound effect on Morisot, intensifying her resolve to carve out a career as a professional painter—a radical decision for a woman of her background. In subsequent years, Morisot emerged from Manet's shadow, becoming more radical and innovative in her subject matter. 1870

The Scarcity Value of Time: Impressionism and the Legacy of Julie Manet. Sebastian Smee discusses how Berthe Morisot's life is carried forward by her daughter, Julie Manet, who represents a "perfect representation of Berthe." Before Berthe succumbed to illness, she wrote a tender letter expressing how Julie had "never once not made me happy." Smee links the philosophy of Impressionism to Sigmund Freud's essay "On Transience," arguing that awareness of mortality should make people value the present moment more—a concept called "scarcity value in time." Impressionism is inherently an "art of transience" that captures fugitive effects. Morisot exemplified this philosophy by valuing the present moment's beauty, refusing to apply artificial meanings or permanence. Ironically, revolutionary Impressionism soon became "orthodox," though the next generation reacted against it, believing it lacked structure. Despite criticisms, Impressionism has lasted because audiences recognize the truth in valuing fugitive effects, and its greatest contribution was the liberation of color.

The Wedding, Manet's Decline, and the Posthumous Fight Over Morisot's Legacy. Sebastian Smee discusses how in the aftermath of the "terrible year," Édouard Manet painted Berthe Morisot several times in a series Smee considers one of the greatest records of intimacy in art history. Manet resolved the situation by setting Berthe up with his brother, Eugène Manet, who proved to be a good husband who supported Berthe's dedication to painting. Despite Édouard advising against it, Berthe joined the first Impressionist exhibition, demonstrating her "incredible audacity and independence." The sad aspect was Édouard Manet's decline: he suffered from syphilis and died in agony after a leg amputation. Following Berthe Morisot's death (she contracted an illness while tending to her sick daughter, Julie), Renoir, Degas, and Monet came together to stage a posthumous exhibition to honor her. The process was volatile because each painter felt a fierce, private relationship with her work. In the 20th century, Morisot was often overlooked by male critics who dismissed her domestic subject matter, though her peers viewed her art as innovative and brilliant.

Sincerity, Transience, and the Domestic Focus of Berthe Morisot's Art. Sebastian Smee discusses how the Impressionists' defining characteristic was plein air painting—painting outside directly in front of the subject. Berthe Morisot was highly innovative, concentrating on women at home doing ordinary, domestic activities. Her work was quick, often using only a few brushstrokes, conveying the impression of a moment glimpsed. Morisot was one of the most radical Impressionists in her style, frequently leaving large parts of the canvas bare to emphasize the feeling of something "quickly caught as if on the fly." Smee identifies her as a "real poet" of fugitive effects and threshold states, often painting adolescent girls at the "cusp of adulthood." Her acute awareness of life's transience and fragility was evident in her style.

The Republican Fire: Manet, Gambetta, and the War That Declared a French Republic. Sebastian Smee discusses how Édouard Manet's family wanted him to pursue law or the Navy, but he became a passionate, anti-autocratic Republican inspired by the 1848 uprisings. Manet established himself as an activist painter, creating works protesting Napoleon III's policies. Léon Gambetta became Manet's friend and the leading moderate Republican lawyer. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 began under Napoleon III, but the French were crushed. When Napoleon III surrendered and went into exile, a Republic was declared in Paris. The victory was bittersweet: Paris was immediately surrounded by Prussian troops, and the entire male population joined the National Guard. However, France was defeated, leading to a humiliating surrender in January 1871. The trauma was reflected subtly in the Impressionists' art.

The Siege, Starvation, and the Start of the Communard Revolt. Sebastian Smee discusses how during the Prussian siege of Paris, Parisians suffered terribly in the coldest winter on record. Radical Republicans grew furious at the moderate government's failure to defeat the Prussians. When the government surrendered and accepted severe conditions, the radicals decided to revolt. The revolutionaries, gathering in March 1871, seized cannons and established the Commune. The Communards were more libertarian than communist, aiming to democratize society. They were violent immediately, and the government forces retreated to Versailles. Paris found itself besieged again by French government forces directed by Adolphe Thiers.

Berthe Morisot and Édouard Manet: Art, Affection, and the Struggle Against Bourgeois Expectations. Sebastian Smee discusses how the Impressionists lived amidst the violence of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. Berthe Morisot came from the wealthy haute bourgeoisie and, along with her sister Edma, became a serious painter, successfully exhibiting at the Salon. However, women of their background were expected to marry and give up painting. Berthe, still unmarried at 29 in 1869, was devoted to her art when she met Édouard Manet at the Louvre. Manet was captivated by Berthe and invited her to pose for The Balcony. Despite precautions, a mutual flirtation developed, though Manet was married to Suzanne, which stood as an impediment.

Paris 1874: The Artistic Revolt Against the Salon and the Birth of Impressionism. Sebastian Smee discusses how on April 15, 1874, an exhibition opened marking the birth of Impressionism. The group, including Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Cézanne, Degas, and Berthe Morisot, set up the show deliberately outside the established Salon. The Impressionists were frustrated by repeated Salon rejections and were in revolt; they wanted to paint contemporary life and fresh landscapes, rejecting the hierarchy and "made-up landscapes." The name Impressionism originated as an insult from a critic, inspired by Monet's painting, Impression, Sunrise. Critics found the paintings unstructured and lacking deep meaning. A crucial figure absent from the exhibition was Édouard Manet, considered the "father of Impressionism," who still believed success required Salon acceptance and saw the Impressionist show as a small, isolated "silo."

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about his choices while crafting Paris in Ruins: How Love, War and Art Gave Birth to Impressionism. Here's what you'll discover in this episode: How the chaos of war and revolution in 1870s Paris shaped the birth of Impressionism. Why the relationship between Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot was central to the book and the Impressionist Movement. How Impressionism's quick brushwork and light fixation reflect trauma, urgency and impermanence. Why Smee gives Berthe Morisot equal prominence and reinterprets her legacy in a male-dominated art world. What it means to write empathetic, narrative-driven biography while honouring archival truth. Why art made in crisis can speak across generations and offer hope, resistance and resilience.

BURNING CITIES CONTINUED, THEN AND NOW.  4/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 PARIS PRUSSIAN BOMBARDMENT   https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

PREVIEW: Author Sebastian Smee, "Paris in Ruins," introduces the admired Impressionist Berthe Morisot, and her part in the success of the French school during the War of 1870 and the Paris Commune. More. 1870 PARIS.

PREVIEW: Author Sebastian Smee, "Paris in Ruins," tells the simultaneous romances of the art rebellion called impressionism and the Paris rebellion called the commune of 1871. More. 1870 PARIS

BURNING CITIES CONTINUED, THEN AND NOW.  1/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1871 PARIS   https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

BURNING CITIES CONTINUED, THEN AND NOW.  2/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 Bucharest  https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

BURNING CITIES CONTINUED, THEN AND NOW.  3/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 SCHWEINFURT https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

BURNING CITIES CONTINUED, THEN AND NOW.  5/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 PARIS https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

BURNING CITIES CONTINUED, THEN AND NOW.  6/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 PARIS COMMUNE https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

BURNING CITIES CONTINUED, THEN AND NOW.  7/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1871 PARIS https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

BURNING CITIES CONTINUED, THEN AND NOW.  8/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 PARIS CLAUDE MONET 1840-1926 https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

5/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism Hardcover – September 10, 2024 by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 SIEGE OF PARIS https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

6/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism Hardcover – September 10, 2024 by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 SIEGE OF PARIS https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

7/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism Hardcover – September 10, 2024 by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1871 PARIS https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

8/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism Hardcover – September 10, 2024 by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 PARIS  https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

4/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism Hardcover – September 10, 2024 by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 PARIS https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionis

"PREVIEW: Author Sebastian Smee of 'Paris in Ruins' explores the pivotal but often overlooked role of Berthe Morisot in the Impressionist movement. More tonight."

3/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism Hardcover – September 10, 2024 by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 PARIS https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

2/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism Hardcover – September 10, 2024 by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 PARIS https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

1/8: Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism Hardcover – September 10, 2024 by  Sebastian Smee  (Author) 1870 PARIS https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Ruins-Love-Birth-Impressionism/dp/1324006951/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LrrcogTAXmGjiJTXHGqcmh6tG316iU_qBRT5krAjbY8X2w9audnxQy7kzk7OLkh_2lSbQ2ybUZGAqxzqsV7SIXXh__kEnq4cHn6QdDz3Vu5xuCtROqvHYC4bnq-Wd16OQ0xBFKI0YF5Q12M2HxhsXNW0KzxEvl3JkXmjEm-lB835FTP4AOXbZmDkXRwFFwP8JAim1mTpk-tRD1mx2eyRyT4izNxH2zOMi6vWoub4fk.sBKL5PJ8cK_YQQ9SXWo2jUROfRmEzorpra10Qr1m--0&dib_tag=se&qid=1739487181&refinements=p_27%3ASebastian+Smee&s=books&sr=1-1 From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans―then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born―in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. In stirring and exceptionally vivid prose, Smee tells the story of those dramatic days through the eyes of great figures of Impressionism. Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas were trapped in Paris during the siege and deeply enmeshed in its politics. Others, including Pierre-August Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, joined regiments outside of the capital, while Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro fled the country just in time. In the aftermath, these artists developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience―reflected in Impressionism's emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things―became the movement's great contribution to the history of art. At the heart of it all is a love story; that of Manet, by all accounts the father of Impressionism, and Morisot, the only woman to play a central role in the movement from the start. Smee poignantly depicts their complex relationship, their tangled effect on each other, and their great legacy, while bringing overdue attention to the woman at the heart of Impressionism

"PREVIEW: Art critic Sebastian Smee, author of 'Paris in Ruins,' explains how painting en plein air was considered revolutionary by the artistic establishment.  1871 Paris

"PREVIEW: PARIS: Art critic Sebastian Smee, author of 'Paris in Ruins,' explores the birth of Impressionism during the Franco-Prussian War and the complex relationship between Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot. More tonight." 1871 Commune

"PREVIEW: Conversation with art critic Sebastian Smee, author of 'Paris in Ruins,' about Berthe Morisot, the first female Impressionist and muse to the movement's founding artists, including Édouard Manet. More later this week." 1870s, Barthe Morisot by Edqard Manet.

“In the end, what interests me is the way art connects with life. Because otherwise, I don't quite understand what it's for.” - Sebastian Smee Sebastian Smee has been the art critic for the Washington Post since 2018, but has written extensively about art for every publication you can think of, from here to his native Australia, and winning a Pulitzer prize for criticism along the way. Both his prose and his love of the work leaps off the page and into your lap, offering a guiding hand past the velvet rope, not just for his readers, but for himself: he's a critic who is constantly looking inward, curious about his own responses to artworks, and what it can teach him about teaching us. Sebastian joined me to discuss his latest book, “Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism,” as well as writers on writing, becoming an expert about a movement on deadline, how looking back at the muddiness of a historical moment can help us understand the muddiness of ours, and what happens when art critics are themselves at a loss for the words to express why they just love this or that painting so darn much. See the images: https://www.thelonelypalette.com/interview/2025/2/6/sebastian-smee-art-critic Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, “Town Market,” “Night Light,” “Brass Buttons” Episode sponsor: The Art of Crime Podcast

Mark your calendars! The new season of The Lonely Palette drops Thursday, January 23rd! This season, we've got a stellar line-up: Cy Twombly, Lawren Harris, Käthe Kollwitz, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, to name just a few. We've got interviews with the Washington Post's Sebastian Smee, the artist and composer Annea Lockwood, and more. We've got a whole National Gallery residency! So listen and subscribe, rate and review, and fire up your earbuds for another season of looking with your ears.

For the 34th episode of "Reading the Art World," host Megan Fox Kelly speaks with Sebastian Smee, Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic for The Washington Post and author of "Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism,” published by W. W. Norton.This fascinating conversation explores the violent political upheavals of 1870-71 Paris — the Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune — and how they influenced the Impressionist movement. Smee shares insights into the lives of the artists who survived these dramatic days, including Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, who were trapped in Paris; Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Frédéric Bazille, who joined regiments outside of the capital; and Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro, who fled the country just in time.Through rigorous research into personal letters and historical documents, Smee illuminates the human context behind familiar masterpieces of light created during this dark period. He offers a fresh perspective on why the Impressionists, with their newfound sense of the fragility of life, turned toward transient subjects of modern life, leisure, fleeting moments and the impermanence of all things in the aftermath of such devastating events.ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sebastian Smee is an art critic for The Washington Post and winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. His previous works include "The Art of Rivalry" and books on Mark Bradford and Lucian Freud. He was awarded the Rabkin Prize for art journalism in 2018 and was a MacDowell Fellow in 2021.PURCHASE THE BOOK https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324006954SUBSCRIBE, FOLLOW AND HEAR INTERVIEWS:For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkelly"Reading the Art World" is a live interview and podcast series with leading art world authors hosted by art advisor Megan Fox Kelly. The conversations explore timely subjects in the world of art, design, architecture, artists and the art market, and are an opportunity to engage further with the minds behind these insightful new publications. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.Music composed by Bob Golden

This year, Andrea Robin Skinner, the daughter of the late Nobel Prize-winning Canadian author Alice Munro, revealed something about her mother that had stayed hidden throughout Munro's entire life. When Skinner was nine years old, Munro's husband – who was also Andrea's stepfather – had assaulted her.  Today, art critic and author Sebastian Smee reads his piece on the author Alice Munro. It's an insightful and sharp piece of writing by one of the best observers of the art and literary worlds.  Please enjoy ‘Into the Dark: The Legacy of Alice Munro”, read by Sebastian Smee, first published in The Monthly's November edition. Socials: Stay in touch with us on Twitter and Instagram Guest: Art critic and author Sebastian Smee

Meet Sebastian Smee, a Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic, who discusses his new book Paris in Ruins, its historical context, and the challenges of writing it. He also touches upon his previous book The Art of Rivalry, how to approach writing art criticism, and tips for aspiring writers. Sebastian now writes for The Washington Post, but got his start writing for The Sydney Morning Herald. He then went on to write for The Boston Globe, The Spectator, The Guardian, The Australian and more. 00:00 Introduction02:35 Nat Newman's writing tip10:28 Win Endgame by Sarah Barrie12:44 Word of the week: Hypnagogic16:47 Interview with Sebastian Smee20:27 Diving into historical context20:59 Early career and education21:49 Breaking into art criticism23:55 Writing art reviews25:50 Journey to America27:34 The Art of Rivalry31:02 Crafting Paris in Ruins38:30 Challenges and reflections42:21 Advice for aspiring art critics47:57 Final thoughts Read the show notes Connect with Valerie and listeners in the podcast community on Facebook Visit WritersCentre.com.au | ValerieKhoo.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sebastian Smee is the author of Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism, available from W.W. Norton & Co. Smee is a Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic at the Washington Post and the author of The Art of Rivalry. Formerly the chief art critic at the Boston Globe and national art critic for the Australian, he has also written for the Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Financial Times, and the Independent, among other publications. He lives in Boston. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch Twitter Instagram  TikTok Bluesky Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

READ FULL SHOWNOTES ON Chat10Looks3.com Crabb's on a deep dive into the birth of impressionism in Paris with a new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Sebastian Smee, while Sales is once again offering her insights on The Sopranos, which last we checked finished airing 17 years ago. Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In just three books Robbie Arnott has established himself as a writer to trust. Flames (2018), The Rain Heron (2022) and Limberlost (2022) were all rapturously reviewed and garnered a hefty swag of award nominations and wins. This week, Michael sits down with Robbie to discuss his new novel, Dusk, which explores loss and redemption and survival in Tasmania's high country.  Reading list: Flames, Robbie Arnott, 2018 The Rain Heron, Robbie Arnott, 2020 Limberlost, Robbie Arnott, 2022 Dusk, Robbie Arnott, 2024 Paris In Ruins, Sebastian Smee, 2024 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store.  Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Robbie Arnott

On today's Friday Morning Coffee, Caitlin Malcuit uses impressionism as a jumping off point to discuss what humanity loses when we're bound more to shareholders, capitalism, and war rather than equity; economic, environmental, housing, and food security; art and creativity; and joy.   Sebastian Smee, art critic at The Washington Post, then chats with Daniel Ford about his book Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism. Writer's Bone is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm, As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast, and The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. 

This week: the Van Gogh blockbuster in London, a new book on the birth of Impressionism, and Juan Pablo Echeverri's performative self-portraits. As the exhibition Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers opens at the National Gallery in London as part of its bicentenary celebrations, The Art Newspaper's special correspondent and resident expert in the Dutch painter, Martin Bailey, takes a tour of the exhibition with our associate digital editor, Alexander Morrison. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, meanwhile, has just opened the exhibition Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment, its iteration of the show marking 150 years since the first Impressionist exhibition, which began earlier this year at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Coinciding with the show is the publication of the book Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism, by the Washington Post art critic, Sebastian Smee. Ben Luke speaks to Sebastian about the book. And this episode's Work of the Week is MUTIlady (2003) by Juan Pablo Echeverri. The photographic piece features nine photographs in which the late Colombian artist pictures himself with an apparently flayed body and wildly different haircuts seemingly reflecting a multitude of identities. The work is part of the exhibition GROW IT, SHOW IT! A look at hair from Diane Arbus to TikTok, which opened this week at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany. The show's curator, Miriam Bettin, tells Ben more about the artist and the work.Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, The National Gallery, London, 14 September-19 January 2025; The Sunflowers are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh's Masterpiece and Van Gogh's Finale: Auvers and the Artist's Rise to Fame by Martin Bailey, Frances Lincoln, each £10.99/$14.99 (pb), from 17 October, but available now at the National Gallery.Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism is published by W. W. Norton & Company in US and out now, priced $35. In the UK it's published by Oneworld, out on 17 October and priced £25; Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment, National Gallery of Art, Washington, until 19 January 2025.GROW IT, SHOW IT! A look at hair from Diane Arbus to TikTok, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, until 12 January 2025.Subscription offer: you can get the perfect start to the new academic year with 50% off a student subscription to The Art Newspaper—that's £28, or the equivalent in your currency, for one year. Visit theartnewspaper.com to find out more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.