Paris in Ruins: An Evening with Art Critic Sebastian Smee

Uncover a new side of Impressionism with Pulitzer Prize winner Sebastian Smee. His new book, Paris in Ruins, takes a fresh look at the slow birth of Impressionism and the tragic time which led to this artistic revolution. During the “Terrible Year” (1870-71), a German siege and violent political upheaval left Paris bloodied and in flames. In the aftermath of crisis, this a small group of French painters 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.